tragic

The death of the “sweet boy” found dead in banana bushes in Fox Hill, still remains a mystery.

Many tales circulated as police and the neighbours tried to make sense of two-year-old Daniel Nixon’s death. Some speculated the boy was attacked by a stray dog roaming the area while others guessed he was a victim of a hit-and-run. Police are examining all suspicions as an Animal Control agent was seen taking blood samples of dogs in the area.

Distraught grandmother Barbara Nixon believed someone killed the boy. “I don’t know who would do this to a baby. I couldn’t sleep. I ain’t sleeping. and I ain’t eating.

“I never dreamed in my wildest dreams that something like this would happen to him,” she laments to the Tribune.

The boy’s mother who suffers from a mental health issue was reportedly doing house chores when the family believes he wandered through an opened door and sometime after 4 pm, they realised he was missing.

A man found the boy around 5:30 pm in the banana patches with a wound to the head and neck, partially clothed while his bottom bared naked. Authorities said the body was swollen, indicating rigour mortis was setting in. Flies were seen hovering over the body as he lay in the bushes.

The boy’s father Douglas Nixon who assisted in caring for him is also trying to handle the unsuspecting grief.

“This morning my son broke down. I tried to be strong for him, but I couldn’t,” Barbara recounted.

Neighbours alleged the boy was often seen roaming the street late at night, without supervision.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force has not yet determined whether or not foul play is suspected.

The grieving mother appeared on the scene sometime later, asking, “Who killed my baby?” Police eventually carried her away and she is assisting with the investigations.

What is unknown

No arrest has been made.

Many questions remain to be answered –how long was the toddler in the bushes, was he killed by the hands of someone, and will the parents be held liable for neglect?

After shock waves billowed over Queen’s College following the sudden death of head boy Dario Rahming Jr on Saturday, mourners expressed disbelief at the demise of the “preacher.”

His sister Aaliyah said the 17-year-old was “a man of God.”

“Polite, [a] Christian [and] pure” are the words she used to describe the 12th-grade student.

He “loved God so much.”

Dario collapsed at some practice held on the school’s ground on Saturday, where his mother also served as a teacher, and died later at the hospital following a desperate attempt to save him.

Aaliyah lamented that everything happened so quickly. “From a seizure at school to cardiac arrest…[he] left without warning.”

After hearing about the unfortunate circumstance involving Dario, the sister said she fled to see him after she heard that something terribly happened to her brother. “I don’t know if he heard me, but I was there. I begged God. I held [his] hand and kissed [him]. I love [him] so much.

“I’m still in disbelief.”

Dario worshiped at Life Worship Center Pastor with his mother. Bishop Denczil Rolle said he “left an indelible mark on the lives of so many and truly modeled what it means to be a kingdom ambassador.”

“My heart is broken,” youth pastor Mericha Walker posted to social media.

“You called me your Pastor, but Dario you were beyond me! A Youth Pastor’s dream.”

Queen’s College Principal Henry Knowles remembered him as “unselfish, humble, mannerly, caring and well-spoken.”

When it was announced he would be head boy, Keva Smith remembered Dario coming to the cafeteria to tell her the good news. “’Ms Keva they made me head boy,’” recalling a remarkable moment in the student body’s life. Smith expressed that she was proud of him and treated him like her son. “[He] always had manners for me.”

Her last conversation with him was Saturday.

Catherine Chisnall, a parent of children who attend the school said Dario was an admired young man.

“My heart aches.”

The tragic death of a woman in a horrific traffic accident on Friday was met with shock.

“Philly was a sweet, beautiful and gorgeous soul,” friend Quekell remembered in a social media post.

Phillipa Deveaux was driving east in a small Japanese vehicle, Daihatsu Mira when she hit a flatbed truck traveling west on Prince Charles Drive, crushing the front end of her vehicle and smashing the windshield. She died on the scene.

One social media post described the devastating scene which occurred after 3 pm on Friday. “I drove past that scene and I cried because when I saw the sheet and the car I said ain’t no way they survived.”

Deveaux managed a bar and lounge on Prince Charles Drive and previously worked as a food and beverage manager at the Cove, Atlantis.

“My good former co-worker has gone way too soon. One of the best food and beverage managers I’ve ever met,” friend Robert mourned.

Other friends in grief said she was loved by everyone.

“Philly looked out for anyone she came in contact with. She was such a sweetheart,” Jada Pratt said.

Donna Morris said Phillipa always greeted her with a smile and “a kind word.”

“A real people’s person. This was one sweet soul.”

Friend Patricia McBride is in disbelief since she spoke with Deveaux the morning before her sudden passing. “We spoke this morning not knowing this would have been the last time. You were such a beautiful soul.”

Nathaniel Smith, an adopted son said since her death, he has had sleepless nights.

“I am still waiting for you to come home because this house ain’t a home without you,” he said as he remembered his last conversation with her on Thursday, the day before she died.

A wife and seven children are seeking $15,000 for travel costs to bury their loved one who was tragically killed in a traffic fatality early Wednesday.

The eight family members including the victim’s mother from Haiti, want an opportunity to bid farewell to 47-year-old Nesly Prophete Mazard who died instantly at 4 am on Wednesday when his blue Suzuki Swift hit a parked wrecker on Cowpen Road near Golden Isles Road.

Sister-in-law Sylvia Alfred speaking on behalf of the family said, “My husband and I are reaching out to friends and family for financial help to cover his memorial and funeral services because we are unable to cover the full costs.”

Mazard was a soccer player for a local team in Nassau, Seventeen F.C, and was expecting to play his final match against players of the University of The Bahamas Mingoes, the day he died.

Before coming to the Bahamas from Haiti, the soccer enthusiast played for the Holiday League Basin Bleu in Port de Paix.

Alfred said Mazard was returning home from an outing on that rainy day when he met his demise, which devastated his family in Haiti. She is hoping to raise $15,000 to cover the travel and visa cost for his family to attend his funeral in Nassau.

“Anything you guys can do will greatly be appreciated,” she pleaded.

Mazard moved to the Bahamas 10 years ago and worked as a carpenter in Nassau and Abaco.

“Even if he was having a bad day, you wouldn’t know. He was always in good spirits, always the life of the party, and energetic. He loved his family. He always extended his hand out to help whoever he can,” his brother Carlton Taylot told the Nassau Guardian.

Friend Kervenson Jacques referred to him as the “good defender of Port de Paix.”

“He never got angry easily. There’s no one better than him.”

Many friends and family including his son Pradtzley Mazard, took to social media to remember him.

Friends of a young woman killed after her car crashed and hit a tree early Saturday morning, are grieving her loss.

“My sweet, smart, selfless Jada. I can’t believe this. I am in shock. I seriously cannot fathom this,” friend Quin Poitier lamented.

Poitier and other friends took to social media to honour the life of  23-year-old Jada Swann who was killed on West Bay Street, near Poop Deck restaurant when she attempted to overtake a vehicle while driving a 2019 Kia Rio.

Fire services used the Jaws of Life to pull her from the mangled car, but she died on the scene.

She and Poitier were friends for nine years and during their friendship, they often discussed life after death.

“It always felt like we grew up together,” Poitier said. “To know [her] is to love [her]. I wish I could change this.”

Swann was a 2017 Public School Scholar, an award granted by the Ministry of Education to graduates of public schools. She graduated from CV Bethel Senior High School, after which she studied at Monroe College in New York and recently obtained her Master’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University.

In 2018, it was no surprise she received the top award in Commerce after sitting the BGCSE examinations. She expressed that her plans were to be a successful businesswoman.

Public School Scholars Programme Administrator Monique Hinsey remembered her and expressed sorrow at her tragic death.

Jermeka Johnson, another friend of Swann said she “impacted so many lives and did it effortlessly.”

Vashti Aleisha echoed the sentiments. “To know [her] was to love [her]. She never got mad or loud or mean. [She was] the true meaning of elegance and grace and humility in person. [She was] always been kind, selfless, and a real light to everyone around [her].

Her friend from high school, Simeon Farquharson said his last conversation with Swann was Wednesday when they promised to catch up on Saturday, the day she died.

“[I’m] honestly bewildered,” he said. “I don’t know how to deal with this.”

Family and friends are grieving the sudden loss of a guidance counselor killed in a car crash off Queen’s Highway, Eleuthera on Friday.

“I am in complete disbelief and feel completely broken. I don’t know what else to say,” best friend D’Licia Taylor said.

Chara Major, a resident of Tarpum Bay, was killed after 5 pm in Salt Bluff when her grey Nissan Note hit a Casuarina tree. Images circulating social media show extensive damage to the vehicle from which she had to be extricated.

Taylor who was also her makeup artist remembers her infectious smile. “It’s hard to say goodbye. It’s really bad and I’m trying. I have so many questions…How am I supposed to do your brows, which lipstick you want…No more nothing? That smile and that grin…I just don’t know.”

The 27-year-old guidance counselor was recently posted at three primary schools in Eleuthera last year September–Emily G. Petty Primary, Emma Cooper Primary and James Cistern Primary Schools–where teachers said she “truly loved what she did and cherished her students and colleagues.”

Minister of Education Glenys Hanna-Martin expressed her sympathies on social media, describing Major’s death as “tremendous loss to the nation.”

After her tragic death, family members were trying to locate one of her beloved pet dogs named Tavari which she often took with her to makeup appointments. Her aunt Anthea Karagiannis said the dog was apparently removed from an apartment where she lived on the island.

“Tafari is a member of our family and we are further distraught to learn that we can not locate [him].”

Major graduated from St John’s College in Nassau, studied psychology at Winston Salem State University and soon returned home to begin her career, which was short-lived.

A baby boy died in a traffic accident on Wednesday morning in a three-car collision on Prince Charles Drive and Soldier Road.

Police say after the accident, one of the drivers left the scene before responding police arrived.

In a video circulating social media, bystanders are seen cuddling a baby as a woman with blood on her face, is seen screaming nearby. She appears to be the mother of the child.

A stroller is also seen on the road in the middle of the accident.

One vehicle is seen overturned on the medium.

The woman, the baby, and a man were transported to the hospital for medical attention. The baby died thereafter.

The accident involved a silver Honda Civic, a burgundy 2011 Suzuki Solio Van, and a white Suzuki Swift.

The police are still looking for the driver who fled the scene.