There was grief and devastation in Shooters Hill yesterday evening as residents mourned the death of a man, who perished under the rubble of his house. The house collapsed in a landslide in the community of Passion Gardens, otherwise known to many as “Toby Gully”. However, the fear is even more intensified as the search for the victim’s daughter, who is believed to have been in the house continues.
When CVM LIVE arrived at the scene on the incident the body of the man, Romeo Leechman could still be seen on the hillside. Residents say his body was found under the mud and debris still on his bed with his head laying on his pillow covered with a sheet.
Leechman was a single parent of a fifteen year old daughter, who is feared to be buried under the rubble.
The landslide also left a neighbour of Leechman devastated. Icelyn, the neighbour, says it was about 8 on Friday morning when she heard the smashing windows and screams, from her family members instructing each other to abandon the house.
“Everything, the house on top of me, wah little board house it come down on me and lick out my back window, all the debris come in on the bed, lick off me son off the bed because him get a hit in a him side and him get a hit in him head…everything, mud, water, debris, everything in a the house, everything just mess up
As the neighbourhood shovels away buckets of mud, which climbed to worrying levels , they are left to reflect on the tragedy and the possibility of more to come, as the frantic search for the teenager continues.
“We’re looking for her…we have to find her because a she and her father and him try hard with her,” one resident told our news team.
Paige Dixon reports:
