One week after 7-year-old Angelica Saydee Jogie lost her life in a tragic jet ski collision at Tobago’s Pigeon Point Heritage Park, her remains were transported back to mainland Trinidad on an evening flight, accompanied by her grieving immediate family.
Angelica’s parents, Arnold and Salisha Jogie, and her older sister Angelina Sophie, touched down at Piarco International Airport alongside the child’s body. Contrary to initial expectations of an immediate return to the family’s Barrackpore residence on Cemetery Street, relatives confirmed the group traveled directly to a Penal funeral home, where Angelica’s body will be held ahead of her Saturday funeral service.
The first-grade student from San Fernando TML Primary School was swimming with her family near the popular heritage park when the out-of-control jet ski struck her two Wednesdays prior. Three family members were injured in the incident: Angelica, her father, and her uncle Darren Jogie. All three were rushed to Scarborough General Hospital for emergency care, but Angelica succumbed to her wounds shortly after arrival. A post-mortem examination confirmed her death was caused by multiple severe traumatic injuries sustained in the collision.
In the days following the tragedy, the 32-year-old jet ski operator, a resident of Tobago’s Canaan Feeder Road, was taken into police custody the day after the incident. As of this week, senior law enforcement sources told the Trinidad Express that investigators are finalizing their case file, which will soon be submitted to Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard to decide whether criminal charges will be filed against the operator. The suspect remains in detention as the inquiry concludes.
Since Angelica’s death, family members have gathered nightly at the Barrackpore home to grieve and honor the young girl. Angelica’s grandmother Radica Jogie has led daily prayer sessions and bhajan singing, with Angelica’s parents participating virtually until their return to the mainland this week. On Saturday, a funeral service will be held at the family home, followed by cremation at the Shore of Peace cremation site. Earlier this week, Oropouche East Member of Parliament Dr Roodal Moonilal visited the grieving family to light a memorial candle, offer prayers, and extend condolences. Moonilal noted that he had been deeply moved by the outpouring of community support for the Jogie family, highlighting the remarkable unity and compassion the neighborhood has shown in the face of devastating loss, and added that the family remains in the thoughts of people across the constituency and the entire nation.
Over the weekend, hundreds of community members, religious leaders and civil society organizers gathered for a public candlelight vigil to mourn Angelica, where attendees pushed for tighter safety regulations at the country’s coastal recreational areas and called on the national government to prioritize child water safety.
In the wake of her daughter’s death, Salisha Jogie has made an urgent public call for a full ban on jet ski operations in recreational swimming areas across Tobago. In an interview with the Express last week, she said, “My request is I want something to be done for those jet skis in that area in Tobago because this must always be remembered in such a way that it should never happen again, and something must be put in place for those jet skis to be removed. I don’t want them, I don’t want anyone to have to feel the pain that I am feeling right now.” She emphasized that her daughter’s senseless death must serve as a permanent wake-up call to prevent similar tragedies from striking other families.
Reginald Mac Lean, head of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association, has joined Jogie in calling for a full ban, describing unregulated jet skis as “ticking time bombs” that pose an unacceptable threat to beachgoers. “They are ticking time bombs and they need to be gotten rid of; too many people around have been severely damaged and others have been killed. If these individuals are not willing to keep these jet skis out of the areas where they are not supposed to go, they should be banned completely from Trinidad and Tobago,” Mac Lean told reporters. He added that there are a wide range of alternative, far safer water activities that tourists and locals can enjoy without putting lives at risk.