By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A GRIEVING mother has recounted the heartbreak of losing her 21-year-old son in a traffic accident in Eleuthera on Friday, just days before he was scheduled to undergo surgery in New Providence.
Marcera Smith told The Tribune her son Charles Dupuch Jr's life was cut short as he was beginning to chart a course for his future.
Police said Mr Dupuch was struck by a white CMC Veryca van while walking along Queen’s Highway around 9.15pm on Friday.
The male driver reportedly stopped after hearing a loud bang and realised he had struck someone when he saw Mr Dupuch lying face down on the road with multiple injuries.
Mr Dupuch was reportedly taken to a local clinic, where he died at 9.23pm.
Mrs Smith said she learnt of the accident shortly after it happened but was unable to be with her son in his final moments.
She recalled that a neighbour who worked at the clinic came to her home after receiving a call about an emergency nearby. Knowing that Mr Dupuch frequently went for walks, the neighbour was concerned that he might have been involved.
Mrs Smith said she rushed from her home after discovering her son was missing and found him at the scene of the accident.
“He was still breathing at the time,” she said. “I just, and they wouldn't let me near him, so I just paced in the center of the road.”
She said her son's stepfather accompanied him in the ambulance while she was taken to the clinic.
“I was just opening the phone through because the nurse had told me he was still breathing, and I felt as long as he was still breathing, he'd have a fighting chance.”
Mrs Smith said her son had been scheduled to undergo surgery at Princess Margaret Hospital on Wednesday to remove a large mucus cyst from his left sphenoid sinus. Instead, she was now faced with the devastating task of identifying his body at the morgue.
She said Mr Dupuch had been experiencing health problems throughout the year, including neck stiffness, difficulty sleeping and other uncomfortable symptoms. A CT scan in September revealed the cyst, which was pressing on surrounding nerves.
The family had been preparing for his trip to New Providence, and Mr Dupuch had washed his clothes and arranged his video games before going out for a walk to ease his symptoms.
“Yeah, and I just was frustrated because I just get he was having some health issues, and I just scheduled his surgery for Wednesday, and so he had washed his clothes,” she said. He had set up his game to come back to his video games, and he went outside to walk because the walking helped with the symptoms he was having, and it's just-it was not what I was expected. I mean, he was just walking.”
Mrs Smith said she moved her family from New Providence to Eleuthera when Dupuch was ten, hoping to raise him away from negative influences.
She said he embraced life on the Family Island and attended Deep Creek School, where he excelled in hands-on learning.
She described her son as intelligent, practical and passionate about farming, Junkanoo, swimming and video games.
After developing an interest in agriculture at school, Dupuch completed a tertiary-level course in hydroponic farming. He later worked as a lifeguard, combining his employment with his love of the water.
Mrs Smith said her son enjoyed meaningful conversations, had a strong sense of humour and preferred spending time with his girlfriend or playing video games rather than socialising in large groups.
“He was still figuring it out," she said.
"He was only 21, and I didn't put any pressure on them.
“They was just still at home, still living at home, and figuring it out.
She said the family had been working towards securing land so Mr Dupuch could eventually build his own home and achieve financial independence.
Mrs Smith was helping him apply for land through his biological father's family settlement on the island.
Mr Dupuch was the second child Mrs Smith has lost. His older sister, Cherith, died at three months old after being born prematurely and contracting an illness.
Mrs Smith said she never imagined having to bury another child and had always expected her children to outlive her.
She said: “It's just natural to think that okay, it would be me that they would bury me, and they would have each other for the rest of their lives. Not that we would have to look at letting him go.”
She said Mr Dupuch's surviving sisters, aged 18 and eight, were struggling to come to terms with his death.
Her older daughter has moments of grief, while the youngest has begun asking questions about why doctors could not save her brother.
Mrs Smith said the family home no longer felt the same, with Mr Dupuch's belongings remaining where he left them.
She said his television and video game console had remained on since Friday, and she could see flowers placed at the accident scene from her front door.
Despite her grief, Mrs Smith said she had found some comfort in the outpouring of support from her son's former teachers, employers and others who knew him.
She said the tributes reflected the kind of person he had become and the positive impression he left on those around him.
“And so that's one thing I'm proud of-that he carried himself out in the world like a decent human being. That's all I wanted to make it.”
Asked whether she had heard from the driver involved in the accident, Mrs Smith said she had not received any condolences and was still waiting for answers about the circumstances of her son's death.
She said the family had questions about the accident but was told police could not provide details while their investigation continued.
Mrs Smith acknowledged feeling anger but said she was trying not to dwell on it as she prepared to bury her son.
“I don't want to deal with it," she said.
"I feel like that's a rabbit hole that I go down right now. Given the anger that I'm already sitting on and having to bury another child, that's something I can't afford to open right now while I deal with everything that's going on. I know it was an accident. Like I understand it was an accident, but just everything else around it just makes it even more difficult to just wrap my mind around.”
Police investigations are ongoing.