After four years of protracted legal battles spanning two court systems, a landmark ruling from the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has finally brought a measure of resolution to the family of Lashauna Sheleta Bridgen, a 29-year-old Jamaican security officer and mother of two who was killed in a 2022 road collision in Antigua. The court’s October 2025 judgment found driver Diondre Samuel fully liable for negligence in Bridgen’s death, ending years of legal limbo that left her remains unburied and her family trapped in unresolved grief.
The fatal incident unfolded on January 20, 2022, along Friar’s Hill Road near Jasmine Court. According to official police records from May that year, Bridgen was crossing the road after exiting a vehicle when she was struck by a vehicle operated by Samuel, a resident of All Saints. Investigators determined Samuel was traveling at excessive speed at the time of impact; the force of the collision threw Bridgen more than 100 feet, causing catastrophic multiple injuries that led to her death shortly after she was transported to a local hospital. The initial investigation formally concluded Samuel was at fault and eligible for criminal prosecution.
What followed was an unprecedented dual-track legal process that legal observers have described as a landmark for Caribbean jurisprudence. Criminal proceedings moved forward first, but in June 2025, a jury acquitted Samuel of the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, ruling that prosecution evidence failed to meet the strict “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required for criminal conviction. Many expected the case to end there, but Bridgen’s family and their legal team refused to drop the matter, pursuing a civil negligence claim under Antigua and Barbuda’s Fatal Accidents Act.
Represented by Salomon and Simpson Attorneys-at-Law, with early consular support from former Jamaican Honorary Consul Dr. Onika Campbell-Rowe, Bridgen’s estate — led by Avagay Hervelyn Cummings on behalf of Bridgen’s mother Christine Evans and brother Chafray Chafral Bridgen — advanced the civil claim through the High Court. In her ruling on Claim No. ANUHCV2022/0491, Justice Tunde A. Byer found Samuel failed to uphold multiple core duties of a responsible driver: he did not maintain a proper lookout for pedestrians, failed to take evasive action to avoid the collision, and did not exercise reasonable care to protect other road users. The justice also rejected the defense’s argument that Bridgen bore any contributory fault for the incident, assigning 100% of liability to Samuel. The full claim was granted, with the final amount of damages set to be determined at a future hearing.
The ruling resolves not just legal liability, but also a four-year delay that left Bridgen’s remains stored in a mortuary, unable to be repatriated to her home country of Jamaica for burial. The family had sought urgent interim funding for mortuary storage and repatriation costs as early as December 2022, but that initial application was denied. An appeal to the Court of Appeal was also dismissed in May 2023, prolonging the family’s emotional agony.
The long four-year wait was also shaped by repeated administrative and procedural delays. Court documents show that for months, Bridgen’s legal team struggled to obtain critical investigative records, including police reports and coroner’s findings, that were required to advance the civil claim. Dr. Campbell-Rowe intervened at the consular level to escalate the matter, submitting formal requests to then Police Commissioner Atlee Rodney in May 2022 to highlight the delays and push for urgent access to records. Formal representations were also made to then Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Armstrong, emphasizing the strict statutory limitation period for fatal accident claims and warning that unnecessary delays could permanently prejudice the family’s right to seek justice. These persistent efforts ultimately unlocked the documentation needed to move the case forward, allowing the civil claim to proceed within the required legal timeframe.
The outcome of the dual-track process highlights a key difference between criminal and civil legal standards: while criminal courts require proof beyond a reasonable doubt to convict, civil courts only require a “preponderance of the evidence” to find liability. This difference allowed the civil court to hold Samuel responsible even after a criminal acquittal.
In terms of compensation, the ruling requires Samuel’s auto insurance provider to cover all funeral-related costs incurred in Antigua. Any damages that exceed Samuel’s insurance policy limits, however, will remain the personal responsibility of the defendant, once the final damages assessment is complete. The estate’s claim includes special damages, general damages, aggravated damages, accrued interest, and legal costs.
With the liability question resolved, Bridgen’s remains are scheduled to be repatriated to Jamaica on April 14, 2026, four years after her death. For Bridgen’s brother Chafray, the ruling brings an end to years of unbearable emotional strain. “We are finally at a place where the family can breathe a sigh of relief. This process has not been easy — it has been emotionally draining for all of us. For four years, we carried the weight of not being able to lay our loved one to rest, while dealing with delays, pressure, and the trauma that came with everything surrounding this matter,” he said. Echoing a local proverb, he added: “Long run, short ketch. Even though one arm of the law did not find him liable, a second arm of the law has now spoken clearly. Justice has been achieved in the long run.”
Chafray Bridgen also publicly thanked the family’s legal team at Salomon and Simpson, as well as Dr. Campbell-Rowe, for their years of sustained work through an emotionally grueling process. “This has helped to bring justice and closure on behalf of our family,” he said. The case now moves to the damages assessment phase, while the family prepares to lay their loved one to rest at last.
