A Guyana Defence Force Air Corp Officer is among three persons that are now dead after a car slammed into a truck on the Corentyne Highway on Sunday evening.
The lorry which was slammed into
Dead are 21-year-old Jessica Leitch of Rose Hall Town, 21-year-old GDF Air Corp Officer Kwesi Lewis of Corriverton and 25-year-old Reon Moriah, a labourer, also of Corriverton.
Those injured are a 43-year-old lorry driver of Whim, 19-year-old Simon Alder of Liverpool and 21-year-old Police Constable Krishan Raju of Scothburg, Corriverton.
Dead: Kwesi Lewis
According to the police, the accident occurred at about 23:30h on Sunday. Initial enquiries disclosed that motor lorry GJJ 6939 was proceeding west on the southern side of the road whilst motor car PGG 9262 was proceeding in the opposite direction on the northern side of the road when the accident occurred. The driver of the lorry told Police that he was about to park on the southern parapet when motor car PGG 9262 collided with the right rear wheel of the lorry. Shortly after, motor car PWW 582, which was proceeding west on the southern side of the road, collided with the rear of the said lorry.
Dead: Jessica Leitch
Breathalyser tests were conducted and the drivers of the two cars were found to be above the legal limit and are in police custody.
At the time of the accident, the three deceased were occupants in a car driven by Alder. It is reported that he was taking Leitch home following a party at Alness.
Meanwhile, a video of the accident, which was recorded after the first car had collided with the rear wheel of the lorry, shows the vehicle parked with its hazard lights on when the second car came along at a fast rate of speed and slammed into the back of the lorry.
Dead: Reon Moriah
When this publication visited Leitch’s mother, Amanda Small, she was inconsolable and could not say much. However, Lewis’s mother, Tomica Soloman, spoke to Guyana Times and relayed the information she gathered.
She related that when she saw her son’s body at the scene, he was sitting with his hands folded on his chest.
“That is how he would sleep. So, I know that he was sleeping in the car and don’t even know anything. If he was awake, he would have told the driver that the truck was there because the road has lights and the truck had its lights blinking. So, the driver had to nod off and his foot press and the car pick up speed,” the former Police Officer stated.
She said she spoke with the driver, who is her son’s former school mate and neighbour, who related bits and pieces of what occurred.
“He tell me that the truck did not have on lights, but the video I see the truck had on the lights, but he is a young boy. We will just have to let the police do their investigation,” she added.
The cars involved in the accident
According to Solomon, her son would have celebrated his 21st birthday the day before he died. She related that he had been a member of the Air Corp since March 2019, and had been on a one-week rotation since the pandemic. He came off of work on Friday and was expected to return on Thursday.
“When he came to see his baby brother he held him so tight and was rocking him and recently he was telling me that he loves me; not that he never use to do it but… it was extra special,” the grieving mother related.
He leaves to mourn his parents and three siblings.
Meanwhile, Moriah’s mother, Patrica Georgeson, was still in a state of shock and was still trying to come to grips with the passing of her son.
Sitting at a shed opposite her Lot 8 Circle Street, Corriverton, Georgeson said that it is most difficult for her to go into the house as her child will no longer be there.
She said the labourer did not tell her where he was going but she referred to her son as being very loving. The grieving mother recalled that she received a telephone call at about midnight on Sunday, informing her about the accident, after which she went to the New Amsterdam Hospital but subsequently learned that the bodies were at the Port Mourant Hospital.
