Sons want answers after dad’s hit and run death 

PORT ANTONIO, Portland — The scene of 84-year-old Dudley Stewart’s road accident told a story.

A packet of Goya large Lima beans forlornly separated from the rest of the day’s shopping; his brown hat — jazzed up with black trimming — had come to rest on a culvert; his crumpled bicycle in a pool of water, front wheel bent, combined to paint a vivid picture.

Sadly there was no clue that has so far led to prosecution of the individual who hit him from his bicycle on April 9. A passing motorist gathered Stewart’s broken body from Folly Road and took him to Port Antonio Hospital but he died three days later.

Fondly called Mass Papa, the elderly man had planned to cook chicken for Sunday dinner and was on his way to get water when he was hit from his bicycle. Three water jugs and his shopping bag with the purchased poultry were among items at the scene.

Dudley Stewart who was knocked from his bicycle on April 9.

Stewart’s sons have been gutted by the abruptness with which he has been wrenched from their lives.

“I was cut up when I was told about the accident,” said Robert, his eldest who lives in St James.

He and his brother Carlington spoke with the Observer outside their father’s house in Anchovy, Port Antonio.

A niece broke the news to Robert and when he journeyed to Portland and saw his father in hospital it was a lot to process.

One foot of Dudley Stewart’s slippers was found near a drain. (Photos: Everard Owen)

“He was lying on his back, head taped up, plaster up, drip — all kind of instrument string up on him — and they say I am not to wake him,” he recalled. “I looked at him and I saw him open up his eye and use his hand to move the plaster over his face. He did not see me and I left.”

He said he returned the next day “bright and early” and was encouraged by the fact that his father recognised him and was able to tell him he had been hit from his bicycle by a car and the driver did not stop.

The doctor thought Stewart looked better than the day he came in but he complained of pain in his head, chest and foot.

“I went back Monday evening and put on clothes on him and went back Tuesday evening and talked to him. He said, ‘Robbie boy, pray for me because in my old age here now it’s the hottest lick in my life that I ever get. I am feeling pain all over. Call who you can call and come together and pray for me,'” Robert said.

Dudley Stewart’s hat was found near a drain.

As he left, his father told him “Be good and be careful”. In response, he urged his dad to obey the medical staff’s instructions. Stewart promised that he would be good, because his son had asked that of him.