A former teacher of roads death victim Oronde Wilson Jr said yesterday he was a promising student with a gift for science.

Mr Wilson, 28, died on Monday after his motorcycle crashed on Middle Road in Southampton.

It marked the first road death of 2021.

Neletha Butterfield, a former government minister and head of Care Learning Centre in Pembroke, told The Royal Gazette that Mr Wilson had graduated in 2009.

Ms Butterfield said Mr Wilson enrolled for the Care GED educational qualification on the recommendation of Michelle Raynor, a GED teacher at Teen Services who “felt that he would benefit from our programme in achieving his high school diploma”.

Ms Butterfield added that as his instructor, and looking at Mr Wilson’s practice test scores, “I knew that he would perform well and he did”.

She said his GED results were “outstanding” in all subjects, especially science.

Mr Wilson was commended in the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity beautillion in 2009 – a first for Care.

Ms Butterfield said staff and pupils were “overjoyed” at the accolade.

She added: “In class he not only demonstrated his knowledge of his lessons but offered assistance to his classmates.

“He was a very kind young man and was friends with everyone in the class.

“I know he will be greatly missed by his former classmates, friends and family. May his family be comforted during this time.

“Though our words can do little, we hope our thoughts and prayers will support and comfort you during this difficult time.”

Ms Butterfield said Mr Wilson was among several Care graduates lost on the roads.

She added that his achievements would be highlighted in her book in progress, Student Essays for the Soul.

Mr Wilson left Sandys Middle School in 2006 with academic and debating awards.

He suffered serious injuries in a 2017 crash that went before the Supreme Court in 2019, when a police officer denied causing him injury by driving without due care and attention.

A jury cleared Barry Richards, a police inspector, of the charge.

The court heard that Mr Wilson, who said he was on his way to see his daughter, had been riding over the speed limit on his motorcycle.

Mr Richards’s car and the motorcycle collided at the junction of North Shore Road and My Lord’s Bay Road in Hamilton Parish. Mr Wilson lost a toe in the crash and his foot was so badly broken it had to be repaired with steel rods.

Renée Ming, the national security minister, also offered condolences to Mr Wilson’s family.

She added: "One death on Bermuda’s roads is one too many.

"We are saddened by any serious road traffic accident and are devastated by a fatality.

“As a country, we need to be aware that road safety is a public safety matter.“