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Island records third road death for 2013

Torrie Baker

Musician and volunteer firefighter Torrie Baker, 25, has become the third person to die on the Island’s roads this year, following a rental cycle crash in St George’s in the early hours of Saturday.Yesterday, relatives and friends gathered to pay respects at the York Street home of Mr Baker’s grandmother, Claudia Simmons.“I’m devastated,” Ms Simmons told The Royal Gazette. “I just have to be strong.”Mr Baker’s death came one day after Haile Matthews, 31, was killed in a two-vehicle collision on Montpelier road, DevonshireAccording to family, Mr Baker, who lived in the Bailey’s Bay area, had been socialising at the East End Mini Yacht Club before setting out that night.Police reported a single vehicle collision at 2.05am along Mullet Bay Road.Mr Baker was pronounced dead at King Edward VII Memorial at 3am.“Torrie loved to perform, loved singing and loved dance,” recalled his aunt, Cheyenne Darrell. “He wrote songs and loved going to the studio in St David’s. He loved travel and used to go away to record music as well.”Recalling her nephew as “happy-go-lucky”, Ms Darrell said: “With Torrie, you never knew when something was wrong, because he always had a smile on his face. He loved to laugh and joke and loved a party.”Mr Baker, who took the stage at shows including the Underground Music Awards, performed under his first name.Describing his own style as “inspirational”, he was remembered as a musically eclectic singer-songwriter with a special fondness for Rhythm and Blues and Hip Hop.The son of Patrick Baker and Lorrie Bean, with stepfather Millard Bean, Mr Baker left brothers Kijon Baker and Latwon Bennett, and sister Israel Bennett.According to his grandmother, Mr Baker enjoyed singing and dancing at the Open Door Assembly church.She said a funeral service was planned for the First Church of God on North Shore Road.A former CedarBridge Academy student, Mr Baker worked at the LF Wade International Airport, as well as part-time in Somers Supermart in St George’s, where he had started out as a child packing bags.Ms Simmons, who also worked at the shop, said: “Torrie was a very loving person, and all the customers loved him.“He never gave us any problems. Whenever I was upset about something, he’d always tell me, ‘Nana, don’t worry about that’.”“He was a very, very important part of this family,” supermarket manager Rowan Ramotar said. “I saw him grow up from a young man.“I would like Bermuda to know the type of person he was. He was like a dream child for a parent — very well behaved and mannered. He was the perfect employee.”He added that Mr Baker had been working full-time for Sovereign Services at the airport.The latest deaths came within two weeks of the January 6 crash that claimed the life of Andrew Peniston, 51.Yesterday, the loved ones of Mr Matthews, also known as Marcus, continued to console one another at the family home on Alexandra Road, Devonshire.The father-of-two died following a collision between his bike and a car at 12.45am on Friday. Both incidents remain under investigation.Appealing for a call from anyone who was with Mr Baker on Friday evening, or who may have been in the area of the crash, police have asked witnesses or anyone with information to contact Pc James Eli at 247-1139.Anyone with possible information about the accident involving Mr Matthews is asked to contact Pc Shantia Furbert at 295-0011.