Aleiny Revé Villegas came to Grand Cayman at age 15, with dreams of working and saving money to rebuild her grandmother’s home in Cuba. But in the early hours of 8 Aug., that hope was shattered.
The 20-year-old, who worked at Foster’s Camana Bay, was killed when the car she was in crashed on Eastern Avenue, near Shedden Road.
Three others were injured in the early-morning incident; police confirmed to the Compass on Wednesday that they remain in hospital in stable condition.
Police have appealed for witnesses and are “particularly interested in speaking to the driver of a small sedan who may have witnessed the collision”.
Revé Villegas’s family is in the process of trying to repatriate her body to Cuba and have started a fundraising page for donations.
A shocking death
For relatives and friends, both in Cayman and Cuba, Revé Villegas’s sudden death came as a shock.
“She was a very energetic and happy person. She was full of life and always thought about the good things of life,” said elder sister Melanie Revé from Cuba via WhatsApp.
Revé Villegas, she said, grew up in Santa Clara where she lived with her grandmother, grandfather, sisters and nephews.
However, she wanted more for her life.
Revé said her sister was ambitious and wanted to achieve a lot in life, so she started on that mission at a young age.
“She moved to Cayman in 2016… a couple days after her birthday. She was in Cayman to work. She wanted to save money to fix her grandmother’s house in Cuba and someday bring her family to visit,” said Revé.
Heartbroken family
She said they are all heartbroken and still processing the death, but her father Alexis Revé Aviles is taking it the hardest.
Her elder sister, Erika Herrera, is also devastated.
“She adored Aleiny,” said sister Kimberly Revé.
Melanie Revé said their last conversation was a happy one, which they spent reminiscing and laughing with and at their father.
Little did the family know that would be the last time they would hear Revé Villegas laugh or see her smile.
Melanie Revé said, hours later, at around 4am, she got a call from her mother saying that her sister was in an accident in Cayman and was in the hospital.
Immediately, she said, she knew the situation was not good.
“From that moment I had a bad feeling and could not think about anything else… At the time I only thought about how she was, if she was ok,” Revé said.
She said talking about the crash is difficult for the family.
Revé said her sister was hopeful for the future, which is why the shock of her death has been traumatising.
“Her dream was to work hard so she could repay her grandmother everything she did for her. To give her family a better life and travel around the world. Her dream was to some day have her own home in the Cayman Islands and settle down and have a family,” Revé said.
Kimberly Revé, who lives in Cayman, said learning of her sister’s death was hard as they shared a special bond.
“Aleiny and I never fought. Whenever we saw each other it was just love. We didn’t even think about taking photos together, it was just about being together. She was there for me when I lost my son and would check on me every now and then afterwards which meant so so much to me,” she said.
Kimberly Revé noted her stepmother, Yanet Peraza, is also having a difficult time. Peraza “took care of Aleiny like she was her own and she just wanted to say she was very sweet, she loved her dearly and she’s deeply upset by this loss,” she said, adding Peraza “was really shaken up by this so she couldn’t say much.”
Revé Villegas was the 10th road fatality this year.
Investigations are ongoing into the crash that caused her death.
Police say CCTV footage shows a small sedan was passed just before the collision occurred. The driver parked nearby and ran to assist, and was the first person on the scene.
The driver is asked to contact PC 244 Jameson of the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit at 939-5722.
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