The family and friends of Desrine Irvin, who was mauled by a garbage truck, are appealing to the public and the cyber community to stop circulating the graphic pictures showing the state that she was left in after the tragic episode.
Irvin was killed on Hagley Park Road on July 4. She was one of two women killed in the accident, when the driver of a garbage truck swerved to avoid a collision and ended up riding the sidewalk, killing the women and injuring two others.
The exceedingly graphic pictures, numbering five, started circulating days after the horrific accident took place, and ran with the email caption 'Half-Way Tree (not for the weak heart)'.
Janet Ffrench, Irvin's sister, said while she has not seen the pictures and has no intention of looking at them, their brother in Canada called her recently, saying that he saw the pictures online in Canada. "He told me that they are very disturbing, very terrible," Ffrench said. "I am begging people to stop sending them around because I don't think it is fair.
"We are going through enough pain already and just to hear people talking about the pictures makes it worse. I don't want it to continue, I am asking people to please stop."
Grieving process
Sharon Brown, who had been a close friend of Irvin for close to 11 years, said her cousin from the Cayman Islands told her about the pictures after seeing them online. She, too, is beseeching persons to stop forwarding the pictures. Brown added that it is only making the grieving process worse for the family that is already grappling with the loss of Irvin, a mother of six children.
Wallesha, who had received the pictures in her email and forwarded them to a few friends on her list, said while she was not the one who started the circulation initially, she regretted aiding the process nonetheless. She said she forwarded the pictures, not trying to be insensitive or funny, but to show friends how bad the accident was.
She continued: "I did not give it much thought, but now that I hear that the family feels hurt by the pictures being circulated I feel sorry that I forwarded them in the first place." She said she hopes that the pictures will stop being circulated for the family's sake."
*Name changed upon request
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