A routine land clearing exercise turned deadly yesterday afternoon after a tree fell on a man who was doing some land clearing in the village of Freetown Sibun. 50 year old Phillip Rubio along with other family members was clearing some farm land in Freetown Sibun when a tree he was cutting down fell on top of him, killing him almost instantly. His sister in law, Cheney Ebanks, who was with Rubio at the time today told us what she remembers of the incident.
Cheney Ebanks,
"As I was going to get off the step and walk forward, he told me to not move and to stay where I was. So I stayed there with my 4 year old baby and my 5 month old son. He chopped down one of the trees but then the tree didn't fall so when he attempted to chop down the bigger tree, the first tree, which he had already cut, was leaning on the next one so he chopped it so it could drop away from him. But then he just ran in a next direction and the tree fell in that direction he was running in. His foot was tangled and it tripped him and one of the trees supposedly knocked him down and knocked out the powersaw out of his hand. That is when I ran towards him but he just like disappeared. I hollered to tell his brother and the next two guys that he had gotten knocked by the tree. He got knock, they think, in his head and the tree supposed to knock him in his stomach part and roll over him. When they reached him his head was down the bank and his foot was under so all they could do was try and pull him from under the tree because he was between two of the trees. He was drinking and I think, due to the rum, that's why he didn't get out of the way fast enough. It is the first time something like that ever happened in front of me so I was kind of shocked. I even dropped my baby because he was sleeping in my hand and I was shocked. They didn't know what to do because they tried to take out the body but we knew he was dead right there."
Police have relayed the results of their investigations to the DPP for consideration.
