Desrine Irvin only had four months to go before the birth of what would have been her fourth daughter.

Sadly, Irvin and her unborn child were gruesomely killed by a garbage truck on Hagley Park Road yesterday.

Twenty-year-old Shackesha Wilson, Irvin's first child, says the entire family has been in shock and disbelief since 7 a.m. yesterday when they received the heart-breaking phone call about the accident.

"All now mi cyaan believe seh mi madda dead. Mi nuh even waan watch de news cuz mi nuh waan see nuttin, mi jus cyaan believe," said Wilson, the eldest of Irvin's six children.

Police reports are that about 6:40 a.m., a Leyland garbage truck (CG 2054) operated by Domestic and Environmental Cleaning Solutions Limited, driven by Aston Williams, was travelling along Hagley Park Road when the driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle and collided into a Toyota Tacoma.

The impact sent the Tacoma crashing into a Honda motor car before the garbage truck rode the banking, hitting four women and killing Irvin on the spot. The three injured persons are 46-year-old Allison Burke, 25-year-old Effana Swaby and 19-year-old Tamala Simpson, all of Portmore, St Catherine. They were admitted in serious condition at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH).

First day driving truck

When THE STAR visited the Half-Way Tree Station, shortly after the accident, the police were in the process of collecting a statement from a senior truck driver, who was in the passenger seat at the time of the accident. It was revealed that it was the first day on the job for Aston Williams, the driver of the truck.

moderate speed

The senior driver told the officer that the truck had been travelling at a moderate speed, approaching the stoplight when he told Williams to apply brake. He said that the truck did not appear to be stopping and Williams swung to the left, he said, hoping not to hit the vehicle. The four persons were hit and Williams is said to have fled the scene and is yet to be picked up by the police.

There was also mention by a police of brake and tyre defects that may have played a part in the accident.

At the scene of the accident, one eyewitness labelled the garbage truck, a 'demon truck': "From yuh look pon di truck yuh juss see evil! Yuh see say is a demon truck!"

When asked why that was so, she said, "Mi juss know is signs of the times. Until now nobody don't know how the truck reach up there, cause him nevah get out of control. No other vehicle nevah get lick. Him juss come fi destroy."

According to another animated eyewitness: "The truck juss drive up pon di sidewalk an a juss so yuh see di truck rub off di woman pon di fence," he said clasping both hands together, while doing a short jog and bracing to the right.

"Yuh see when yuh look, di woman crush out...," he said of 49-year-old Desrine Irvin, a newspaper vendor of a Maxfield Avenue address, who had been pregnant. He continued: "Yuh see all one next woman, fi har clothes itch up undah di truck back wheel fi show yuh how him do dem."