A fourth victim succumbed to his injuries on Thursday after the fatal collision in the vicinity of Loo Creek, Linden-Soesdyke Highway which claimed the lives of three people on Wednesday evening.
Dead: Alexander “Dave” Primus
Dead is overseas-based Guyanese Louron Mendonca, 23, of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Raul Aaron, 38, of 748 Section C, Lot F, Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD); Alexander “Dave” Primus, 52, a taxi driver of Lot 6 Self Help, Amelia’s Ward, and Dextroy Griffith, 23, of 64 Self Help, Amelia’s Ward, Linden, a mechanic attached to Roraima Airways, were the persons who reportedly died on the spot on Wednesday.
Griffith’s wife, Whitney Plowell-Griffith, 23, who is said to be about four months pregnant, and Mendonca, 22, along with Arletta Kellman, 47, of Speightland, Lower Kara Kara, Mackenzie, Linden were all admitted to the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) in a serious state, following the accident on Wednesday.
They sustained trauma and broken bones, among other injuries. Plowell-Griffith,
Dead: Louron Mendonca
who remains a patient of the LHC, suffered head injuries, a broken arm and dislocated hip. She is said to be in a stable condition. Mendonca, who succumbed to internal injuries, was the great nephew of Primus and one of the passengers travelling in his car, a Toyota Spacio with licence plate HC 5326, which collided head on with motor car PRR 7151, driven by Aaron.
Kellman, Griffith and his wife Whitney were the other occupants of Primus’s car, which was completely destroyed. While information remains sketchy,Guyana Times understands that Primus had attempted to overtake a container truck and ended up in the lane of the car driven by Aaron. At the time of the collision, it was reportedly raining and visibility was poor. A son-in-law of Kellman recalled driving behind the two vehicles on the Highway, but noted that they quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Dead: Dextroy Griffith
As he got closer, he realised that two vehicles had collided and he saw his injured mother-in-law. With only one vacant seat in his vehicle, he reportedly collected the injured Kellman and rushed her to the hospital.
The others were picked up shortly afterwards and rushed to the hospital. However, Primus and Griffith, along with the driver of the other vehicle, were pinned and had to be pulled from the wreckage by firemen who were summoned to the scene. One eyewitness told this publication that the bodies were severely damaged and it took the firemen quite some time to pull them from the wreckage.
At the homes of the deceased on Thursday, family members mourned their deaths. Griffith’s mother, Suzette LaRose has not yet come to grips with the death of her only son. A family member told this publication that she continued to be in denial over his passing, refusing to believe that he has died.
Dead: Raul Aaron
“She said she doesn’t accept that,” the family member noted.
Griffith’s mother-in-law, Diane Plowell said he and her daughter Whitney, who is an employee attached to the Bureau of Statistics, Georgetown, would always travel to Linden together. She indicated that the couple, who shared two children together, aged five and two, were scheduled to celebrate their first wedding anniversary on January 16, just a day before Whitney’s birthday. While the couple worked outside of Linden, they both lived in Plowell’s home at Amelia’s Ward, Linden. According to Plowell, her son-in-law, who was a skilled mechanic, secured the job at Roraima Airways about three months ago and the couple would travel daily. She said the couple were now starting to build life together and were in the process of securing an apartment in Georgetown to be better able to provide for the family.
“They were going to move first and then the children would follow…A year ago we were planning a wedding, now we are planning a funeral,” she said solemnly.
Plowell added Griffith never liked travelling in the front seat of vehicles, but in this case, not even the back seat was safe. As such, she urged drivers to be careful on the roadways, especially when overtaking on the highway.
“They got to start being careful. I drive that highway, so I know. You have to be careful,” she stressed.
Plowell described Griffith as a very quiet, nice individual who was loving and caring to his wife and family.
“I don’t know how she’s going to move on, or how we’re going to move on. Now when their lives were just starting to get stable…a wrong move to get into a particular transportation cost them. All she’s (Plowell-Griffith) worried about now is what will happen to her and the children.”
Griffith is survived by his wife, children, mother and two sisters.
Meanwhile, Primus’s wife, Rachel, told Guyana Times that she last saw her husband, who was also a former Policeman, alive around 10:00h on Wednesday, before he left for work.
“The next call I got was that he crashed. His nephew told me that he crashed. So we were going down to see if we could tow he, not expecting that…My neighbour came to me and she was like, ‘oh my God Rachey, Dave died and they got to cut him out the vehicle.’ I started screaming and I said it can’t be Dave dead because my husband is not a careless driver,” she noted.
Primus added that her husband whom she had known for 17 years was not known to be reckless. She said her husband was diabetic and would often joke about dying on the bed next to her.
“I would always tell him, Dave, be careful. If you’re tired, come home. Or wherever you have to go, you go and get your rest. Whenever you can, you come home,” Primus said tearfully. She described her husband as a loving and caring individual. He is also survived by his seven children.
Deceased’s documents found at Amelia’s Ward
Primus said her husband’s great nephew Louron was staying with the family at Amelia’s Ward, since he travelled to Guyana from St Vincent some time ago to secure his United States visa, which he had uplifted prior to the accident on Wednesday. The documents, along with his bag, she noted, were discovered at Lover’s Lane, Amelia’s Ward, which led to her belief that the car was raided. Primus said given the distance the documents were found from the accident, she suspected that they were taken there by someone. She said Mendonca also had approximately $60,000 in his possession which he had received from overseas which has not been recovered. She added that only the receipt has been found. Primus said persons were also unable to recover some documents for her husband’s car at the scene.
