NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD Ricardo Dacres was scheduled to leave Jamaica by the end of the year or early in 2023 to pursue tertiary studies at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, but those plans died on Monday when he was killed in a motor car crash in Clarendon.

Having graduated from Excelsior High School, Dacres, who was affectionately called ”Ricky”, was planning to study art and architecture.

Danté Taylor, a cousin of Dacres, was still in disbelief on Tuesday afternoon when he spoke to the Jamaica Observer. He recalled being at home Monday afternoon close to 2:00 pm when he saw Dacres preparing to go to the river.

“He was dressed in full black and he told me he was going to Salt River. He never liked crowds, but he had specific friends that he would chill with and they were the ones he went out with. Close to 2:00 pm he said, ‘Danté, mi gone’. Who would have known, that would be the last words from my cousin?” Taylor said, explaining that the other occupants of the vehicle emerged from the crash with only minor injuries.

Taylor said the news was delivered to him by a friend around 4:00 pm. The motor vehicle Dacres was travelling in reportedly slammed into a utility pole.

“My friend said he had some sad news to tell me. He said, ‘Ricky dead’. I hung up the phone and immediately called my cousin who is a funeral director and he called the May Pen Hospital and confirmed it. I alerted my parents and Ricardo’s parents and they rushed to the hospital. His mom is in the hospital now because when she saw him she fainted.

“To know that Ricky died exactly three months after my daughter was born, really hurts me. I used to change Ricky’s diapers. We did so much together. He was like a little brother to me and not a cousin,” Taylor said.

Dacres was a native of St Thomas, but spent most of his life living with Taylor, their grandmother and Taylor’s mother. The teen had a passion for art and football.

“Ricky spent most of his life with us. My grandmother, who has died, raised us. We were living first in Duhaney Park. Then my mom and my dad got this house in Longville Park in Clarendon and Ricky came over here. He would always go to school from here with my little brother who attends Excelsior.

“Ricky was an introverted person but he was very jovial. He was humble, honest and straightforward. He always aspired to be an artist. If you see his artwork, you would be impressed. He could draw anything on spot and anything else he would put his mind to. I can tell you that he loved football and Manchester City. He was working very hard to go overseas to do his degree. Mathematics, English, POB, art, technical drawing and information technology were among the subjects he excelled at. He never required extra lessons. We didn’t have to tell Ricky to take up a book,” said Taylor.