A senator who organised a fundraiser for the family of a little boy who died after the car he was in plunged into the sea has praised his relatives for their courage in the face of tragedy.

Lindsay Simmons, a Government member of the Upper House and operations director at Hamilton’s Rosa’s Cantina, where the fundraiser for Taz Boyles, who was just 11 months old, was held, told the Senate that the family had inspired her.

Ms Simmons said: “From the moment they walked in the door the love filled the room. Taz’s mom came to me and asked me how I was doing.

“I looked at her and I couldn’t believe it – she was worrying about how I was feeling.”

Ms Simmons added: ”Bermuda is not perfect but we make conscious decisions daily. I have decided to be more like Taz’s family and forgive more, to love more because life is not promised to anyone.

“I don’t know Taz’s mom personally but I can tell that Taz was loved from conception and his love should live within all of us.

“We should continue to extend love to everybody.”

Taz died on March 11 after the car he was in crashed through a fence and went into the sea off Shark Hole Hill in Hamilton Parish.

Rescuers jumped into the water and freed the woman driver and older child from the car after they smashed a rear window and pulled them out.

But it was several minutes before they were able to get Taz – who was strapped in a baby seat in the front passenger seat – out of the vehicle.

The three were taken to hospital but it was later confirmed that Taz had died.

Ms Simmons, speaking at Wednesday’s session of the Senate, said that she had been struck by the family’s capacity for compassion at the March 15 fundraiser, which would have been Taz’s first birthday.

She appealed to people to put their differences aside and show more love.

Ms Simmons added: “All this fighting that I see in Bermuda needs to end.”

She said: “I challenge everybody to the Taz Challenge – to love a little bit more, to be a little bit more friendly, to know that Bermuda is small.

“We are a tight knit family and we need to put down the weapons, we need to put down the words, the hatred, and love a little bit more.

“So I challenge everybody to be a little but more like Taz’s family.”