— Hacketts appeal for any assistance possible
Forty-eight hours after their 5-year-old daughter Tamicia was killed when a towering palm tree came crashing down on their home in Freeman Street, East La Penitence, injuring other family members and reducing all their domestic possessions to rubble, the stark reality of deprivation has now begun to hit home hard to 26-year-old self-employed mechanic Junior Hackett and his wife Tamica.

Now homeless, they are being temporarily accommodated at his mother’s home in another part of East La Penitence.
But they are five in number, and their needs are many; so they are in urgent need of help. 

Writhing in pain as he spoke from his mother’s home yesterday, Junior, badly injured and unable to work for some time yet, appealed to civic-minded persons for whatever assistance they can render.

“We need any help we can get at this time, but the most pressing need is money to bury my dead child; and we want her to have a decent burial,” the grieving father said, fighting hard to hold back the tears.
He also said that he had applied to the Housing Ministry for a house lot earlier this year, but is still awaiting a response. Accordingly, he is appealing to the authorities to decide in his favour, so he could create a home for himself and family in an area where their lives and earthly possessions would not be similarly threatened.

Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green visited the Hackett family on Sunday. This newspaper understands that church members are preparing to offer the Hacketts help.  The National Relief Council yesterday said it was addressing the Hacketts’ situation, and will visit the bereaved family today.  APNU has donated food items to the Hackett family.     

Both Junior and Tamica Hackett sustained serious injuries when they were pinned under the weight of the fallen palm tree and other rubble. Their three surviving children: Kelly Ann, 6; Richie, 2; and Julius, one, were also injured. After the incident, the five were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where they were treated and sent home.

Junior Hackett was pinned under the tree, and had to be dragged out by rescuers. He sustained 20 stitches (inside and outside of the wound) on his back.  Late yesterday afternoon, he was preparing to return to hospital, since he is now unable to walk properly, and is dragging his right  leg.  His wife Tamica is also complaining of a numbness in the lower part of her body, and three-year-old Richie has pains in his back.

Family members yesterday said that City Council personnel visited the scene, and it is likely that they had made an assessment of the job at hand.  However, they left without making any comments to the Hackett family.

Meanwhile, the body of five-year-old Tamicia is lying at the Georgetown Public Hospital Mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination. No arrangements have as yet been put in place for her burial, since both her parents are temporarily confined to bed.