Rishawn Smith, 23, who was killed in an early morning accident at Spikenard and Carmichael Roads on Sunday, visited her grandmother's house on Bellot Road almost every day before she died, said grief-stricken relatives who gathered at that same house after identifying her body at the Rand Morgue yesterday. Bulha Smith, Rishawn's grandmother, who told The Nassau Guardian she could not bear seeing her grandchild's body at the morgue, said she was heartbroken enough knowing Rishawn would never visit again. Smith said the last time she spoke to Rishawn was on Thursday.

"I just can't get myself together because this has come as such a shock," said Smith, choking back tears in her living room where several photos of Rishawn were on display. "I have 11 grandchildren all together and that chain is broken now. But I am going to try and cope because God is able and he will get me and my family through; I pray every day and every night. "It's just too hard. She will never again walk in this house to greet me and kiss me and her granddaddy." Rishawn, who just returned home after graduating from Mount Saint Mary College in New York this summer, was a passenger inside a 1997 Volkswagen involved in a two-car collision around 3:25 a.m. that day, according to police.

The man driving Rishawn was also taken to hospital, but The Guardian understands his condition was not serious. Richmond Smith, Rishawn's father, sat beside his mother and fought back tears as he recalled the events between Saturday night and Sunday morning. He said he last saw Rishawn around 10 p.m. on Saturday and sensed that something was wrong when his daughter did not return home or call by 2:30 a.m. He said not long after he heard a knock on his front door, just blocks away from his mother's house. "I heard the car pull up and I said, 'Rishawn is home.'

That's the first thing I said [and] I laid back down," Smith said, while fighting back tears. "As I heard the knocking, I thought Rishawn must have left her keys. I went out there and that's when they told me who they were and everything else." The knocking came from police who asked him to accompany them to the scene of the accident, Smith said. When he got there he was confronted with the sight of her body lying on the ground. Smith, who turned 49 yesterday, said he expected to celebrate his birthday with his daughter and other family members.

He described Rishawn as a very loving person, passionate about life, who gave her energy and time to her family and friends, particularly her nephew, whom he said she cared for as her own. "Saturday, she and I spent most of the day together," Rishawn's father said. "We went to Cable Beach out to lunch at Subway. Coming out of Subway, she was dancing. We went to church on Saturday evening. She was always a joy to be around." Relatives said Rishawn was looking for work after having just achieved a bachelor's degree in Biology over the summer. Smith said Rishawn considered returning to New York to pursue a master's degree if she could not find a job. He said the family hopes to arrange a funeral this weekend.

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