Mother, daughter perished in Clarendon crash were two beautiful souls

What began as a simple favour turned tragic on Saturday morning of June 21 along Salt River Road in Clarendon, as eight-year-old Shanaye Miranda; her 44-year-old mother Princess Simmonds and 46-year-old electrician Fredrick Reid, were all crushed to death.

All three were offered lift by a ‘Good Samaritan’ to their destination when the green Toyota Corolla motor car that they were in collided with a truck. Miraculously the driver of the car, who is a female, survived the wreckage and is currently receiving treatment in hospital. Her status is considered to be very serious. The truck driver reportedly survived the collision and is now under investigation.

According to a police report, the driver of the motor car was rejoining the Salt River main road after picking up the three now deceased when the collision took place. The investigation is still unclear how the accident really unfolded but it is believed that the driver of the car probably mistimed her re-entry onto the main road. 

Residents of the Cockpit community, where Simmonds and her daughter resided, are heartbroken by the tragedy. Friends and relatives described Shanaye – a grade three student at Marlie Mount Primary and Infant School in Old Harbour – as a bright and cheerful child who was well-loved by her classmates and teachers. Her sudden death has sparked an outpouring of grief on social media and at her school, where counselling sessions are being arranged.

“It is with deep sadness that I share with you the tragic death of one of our grade three students, Shanaye Miranda and her mother. They died in a motor vehicle accident this morning,” principal Calvin Harris, posted in a notice to the school’s board of governors in the immediate aftermath of the crash. “We mourn with the family, Mrs Hylton (class teacher) and her classmates. Truly I am extremely saddened at this time.”

“She was a loving, spirited little girl with a bright future,” shared a family friend. “This is a heavy blow to everyone who knew her.”

Hylton, who would have spent almost a full academic year as Shanaye’s teacher, told Old Harbour News that she had to seek medical attention upon hearing he devastating news. 

“I’m yet to come to terms with her death. It’s so sudden,” she said many days later. 

“All I can remember mostly is her smile,” she added with a heavy sad tone. “When Shanaye smiles, her entire being and her face just light up. She was very pleasant. She was very quiet. She was not a child that you had to call to repeatedly. She was very promising. She tried her best and her mom ensured that she did well. 

“It’s just sad. And even right now there are some students who are just not doing well, especially her friends who were closest to her. So what is happening now is that the children just stick to me in the day, they don’t give me a break maybe because of the loss.”

Flo Nelson, who is the aunt and grandniece of the deceased mother and daughter respectively, says their untimely deaths have dealt a crushing blow to the family in Bannister. 

Speaking of the now late mother of three – now survived by two children, three siblings and her dad – Nelson said: “When I got the news it was just shocking. I tell myself it wasn’t true. It was just terrible. She was someone who smiles a lot… very jovial, caring. All her interest is to work and take care of her children.

“The entire family is shaken up. It is just hard on everybody to accept it (their death). We are having a grief counselling session one day next week with a professional counsellor to help the family. We are a close-knit family that really cares about each other. It’s very, very hard, but we will get there.”