By Robert A. Emmanuel
“The life of the party” and a person whom “everyone gravitated towards” – those were some of the words used by one of her close friends to describe 24-year-old Annika Lawrence, following her death yesterday.
Condolences to the family – including Lawrence’s mother affectionately known as “Baba” and her two young children, six-year-old son Azarie and three-year-old daughter Zeliah – and her friends have since flooded social media.
Lawrence was a passenger on a motorcycle driven by a 28-year-old Bendals man who reportedly lost control of the vehicle late Sunday night, causing the pair to fall off.
They were both seriously injured and were transported to the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre by medical personnel.
According to Jessica Roland, who reportedly knew the deceased from birth, Lawrence was an amazing and cheerful woman and a great mother to her children.
Roland said it was difficult to accept the news as Lawrence was “like a daughter [she] never had”. Tragically, the family had been in the midst of planning Lawrence’s 25th birthday celebrations which would have been this Saturday.
Meanwhile, according to police sources, the unnamed motorbike driver who also sustained injuries was still recovering at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre up to news time.