Friends of Italian waiter Abele Hiwet, both in Cayman and around the world, are grieving the loss of the 38-year-old who was killed in a hit-and-run collision on West Bay Road.
Hiwet, who only moved to Cayman in November last year, died when his electric bike was struck by an oncoming vehicle last week. The driver fled the scene but was subsequently arrested and charged with a string of offences.
Friends and colleagues of Hiwet, who worked at Tillies restaurant, say they are shocked by his death and devastated that the driver did not stop to call 911 or try to save his life.
“He was a great guy…. sweet guy. He did no harm to anybody,” a friend, who asked not to be identified, told the Cayman Compass in a telephone interview Monday, adding that he hoped to see the man responsible for the collision behind bars.
“You did something wrong, but you could have at least stopped and helped… you could have been a man and stood up,” he said.
“He was a human being, you never know if you had stopped you might have saved him.”
Leonardo Mariotti, general manager at Palm Heights, which includes Tillies restaurant, told the Compass that Hiwet, from Naples, was a big football fan.
He said Hiwet had been looking forward to a trip home in April to watch his favourite team Napoli, who are currently top of the league in Italy.
Hiwet’s friend Fausto Pietropaoli has started a GoFundme page to help raise funds for his funeral. More than €7,000 ($6,260) had been raised by Monday evening.
The friend who asked to remain anonymous said he had only recently met Hiwet, who previously worked in London. When he learned what happened, he said he was distraught to think that Hiwet was left to die.
He said he was grateful to learn that some tourists had tracked down the driver believed to be responsible and that he had been arrested.
And he pleaded with anyone considering drinking and driving to think again, saying Cayman had an alarmingly high number of road deaths and collisions linked to alcohol.
Though he also works in the hospitality industry, he added that he believes there needs to be a tougher stance on drinking and driving in Cayman.
Mariotti said the loss of Hiwet has affected the team at Palm Heights greatly.
“Abele was a colleague and dear friend to many of our team and we are deeply saddened by this tragedy.
“Our team hosted a vigil [Sunday] night in his memory attended by over 150 people and we are also fundraising for his family to assist with funeral expenses through a Gofundme page,” Mariotti said in an emailed statement.
Friends around the world mourn
Friends also took to social media to share their grief.
One person wrote, “Gone too soon man,” under the fundraising post, while others simply said, “rest in peace.”
On Facebook, Hiwet’s friends in Italy mourned his death, recounting his zest for life and his talent for balancing any object on his head, from a chair to a knife.
“Naples is definitely crying, you brought joy to everyone who knew you,” said one friend, who remembered his Michael Jackson-style dancing.
Another wrote, “May you fly higher than any barrier in the sky… rest easy, we’ll see each other again soon.”
Hiwet’s story was also picked up by Italian publications, including the newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno.
The article, which was published last week, said that Hiwet had spent most of his life in the Spanish Quarter of Naples, along with his family, and had harboured ambitions of opening a beach bar.
Investigation continues
The collision occurred at 1am on 8 March.
Hiwet was flung from his electric bicycle after it collided with a Jeep Cherokee near Queen’s Court Plaza.
The driver of the Jeep, a 36-year-old man from West Bay, fled the scene and was tracked down and arrested a short time later. Police, in a statement to the Compass Monday evening, said the West Bay man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving and driving under the influence.
He has since been bailed pending further investigation.
Editor’s note: We apologise that an earlier version of this story misnamed one of the interviewees.
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