People who gathered at the corner of Henri Bourassa and l’Acadie boulevards in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough Sunday evening were still coming to terms with what happened in the wee hours of Jan. 1.
“Canada, and Montreal for that matter, is one of the safest places when it comes to road traffic and all that, so when this happened we were really surprised,” said Hilda Amponsah, who was there to support her friend, Susana Katimba.
Susana’s husband, Augustin Wesley Katimba, 30, and 31-year-old Michael Chintakis, were struck and killed at the intersection at around 1:20 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
“Here in Ahuntsic, the community is very close,” explained vigil co-organizer Elie Abou-Jaoude, “so it’s something that shocked us all and I think it was very important to come together to today to support each other.”
Dozens showed up despite the weather. Susana was not ready to speak publicly. Close friends say it’s been very difficult for her.
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“She’s been with Augustin for many years, has two beautiful children,” longtime family friend Maimuna Taal told Global News. “He went away to church to celebrate his birthday — he turned 30 the first of January.”
She says Katimba, a nurse from Namibia, was returning home when the accident happened.
According to Taal, the couple had only been in Montreal for a little over a year. Susana, an air traffic controller in Namibia, is in Montreal on a secondment to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
“(Katimba) came to support his wife,” Taal said. “He was a good husband and a wonderful father.”
Now his widow’s co-workers have rallied to support her.
“Susana doesn’t have her parents, her siblings. Wesley’s family here,” explained co-worker, Michele Merkle. “She knows she can count on her friends at work who are here to shower her with love and support.”
Katimba’s family plans to repatriate the body to Namibia. Relatives of Chintakis, the second victim, want to share cash raised from a fundraiser for their family, with the family from Namibia to help with repatriation costs.
Chintakis’ friends and family say that they too were grateful for the gathering and that they believe the man, who would have turned 32 on Jan. 14, was with them in spirit.
“I’m happy that this many people gathered for Mike on a very cold day, on a very snowy day,” said close friend Spiros Ilias. “It just goes to show you what kind of a man he was.
The driver of the car that allegedly hit the men is expected to appear in court on Monday.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
