MAURICE Foster, the well-loved former Jamaican and West Indies cricketer and current radio sports analyst, is a man of many words. But yesterday, Foster could not find the words to describe the cruel loss of his eight year-old daughter, Brittani Foster, victim of a freak accident that has plunged the family into deep mourning.

Britanni died Saturday, flung to her untimely death from an errant family car while at her aunt's house at Long Mountain in Beverley Hills, St Andrew.

"There are no words that can describe how we feel at a time like this, for something like this," Foster commented briefly when the Observer called the grief-stricken home yesterday.
Foster, host of KLAS Sports Radio's popular 'Scoreboard', received the news in Barbados where he was representing the island at a golf tournament, and caught the next flight home.

According to Brittani's mother, Valrie Foster, the child had gone to get a patty that had been left in the back of the car. Not expecting to be long, the little girl didn't bother to close the door, and only went halfway into the car which was resting on an incline.

The car suddenly began to roll backwards, and little Brittani was carried off, half her body still protruding from the vehicle. At the sight of her daughter in danger, Mrs Foster lunged at the car and tried desperately to grab Brittani.

The car continued to roll backwards until it hit a fence and spun around with such force that young Brittani was flung to the pavement, before her mother could hold her.

Foster rushed her daughter, who was bleeding through her nose and ears and had suffered a severe injury to the head, to the University Hospital of the West Indies.

The family was given brief hope as the doctors detected her pulse and her blood pressure and managed to resuscitate her. But their hope was short-lived, as despite the doctors' best efforts, little Brittani succumbed to her injuries.

A sister of Brittani said Foster and the rest of the family were distraught but were finding solace in God.

"It's really hard, but right now we're all relying on the strength of God. She was a gift to us and we know that," Toni Foster Anderson told the Observer.

Brittani was remembered as a 'little lady' who excelled in all that she did. The last of six children, she was a good student and an especially good dancer, for which she won an award. She wanted to dance professionally and model part-time when she grew up, a family member recalled.

To help Brittani's schoolmates cope with her sudden passing, a special counselling session was held yesterday at her school, St Andrew Prep.

The family has, in the meantime, set a tentative funeral date for this Saturday.

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