Welder crushed by turning lorry at Bagotstown

Friday morning turned into heartbreak for a Bagotstown family after 21-year-old welder Jeremiah Shameem Latiff, known to relatives and friends as “Nicholas”, was crushed to death by a motor lorry while riding his bicycle along the Bagotstown Public Road.
Latiff, who celebrated his 21st birthday just days earlier on December 31, was pronounced dead at the scene around 10:30h. The lorry driver was arrested and is assisting Police with investigations.
Relatives said the young man was on his way to work at his uncle’s welding shop, located across the village, a routine journey he had made for years. He had worked alongside his uncle since the age of 17 and had become the sole breadwinner for his household.
According to reports from eyewitnesses, Latiff was waiting at an intersection to cross the roadway when the motor lorry attempted to negotiate the turn. The vehicle reportedly struck the bicycle and trapped the young man beneath its rear wheel. The damaged bicycle was left lying near the scene.
When Guyana Times visited the young man’s family home, his cousin Lisa Perreira, who was among the first relatives to arrive, said the family was jolted awake by the devastating news.
“I was sleeping, and my mother came up and woke me up. Suddenly, she was like, ‘Nicholas died,’” Perreira recalled. “We rushed out and went over to go out on the road to see what happened. As soon as I went out, I saw his body just lying there. I was shocked, because I didn’t really believe what she told me.”
Latiff lived with his mother and his eight-year-old sister. “It is just the two of them; he is her only son,” Perreira said.
She described him as hard-working, respectful, and deeply family-orientated. “He was a great kid. He had a lot of respect for everybody. Almost everybody knows Nichols. Anything you need him for, he would be there,” she said, her voice breaking. “He was working really hard so he could build a house for his mother and buy a car for her because he was the breadwinner. She was a single parent. His family came first.”

Relatives say preliminary information suggests the cyclist was not at fault.
“We heard that he was at the corner of the road with his bicycle, and the truck turned, and like it didn’t turn wide enough,” Perreira explained. “The back of the truck grip his bike and pin him.”
Making an emotional appeal, she called for accountability. “I hope the truth does come out, and it says that the truck driver is wrong, because my cousin wasn’t wrong,” she said. “He wasn’t riding in the middle of the road. He wasn’t riding on the wrong side or anything. He was on his bike and was waiting to cross the road, and he was following the rules… I need them to give us justice, because we didn’t deserve to hear about this this morning.”
The grief was overwhelming for Latiff’s mother, Geeta Anirude, who struggled to contain her anguish as she asked the driver questions.
“Why did you take my baby from me? Why? Why couldn’t you wait? Why did you take my baby from me? Oh God,” she cried.

She later shared the haunting details of their final moments together. “He was my baby. Only last night I told him he need to ask for time off because he works hard,” Anirude said. “I told him he got to go today and look after his licences and open a bank account. That was what he had to do today; we made a deal for him to do all of that. He didn’t get to go, and he would never get to go.”
She added, “This morning there was curry, and I told him to go and buy two roti, one for him and one for his sister, so she can take to school. He asked me if I wanted anything, and I said no. The last thing I told my son before I got to work this morning was, ‘Bye, baby, I love you. Take care, see you this afternoon.’ They called and told me my son got knocked down, but they never told me my son died.”
Another cousin, Melisha, underscored that the impact of Latiff’s death is a devastating one on the family’s future. “The life that you took this morning – he was the sole breadwinner for his mom and his sister,” she said. “I don’t know where life will take them now that he is gone.”
She continued, “He was very loving and caring. You could ask him to do anything. He would normally spend most of his life by his grandparents, and he would work. That is where he was coming to earn his daily bread when that truck driver, who couldn’t wait, took someone from their family.”
As Police continue their investigations, a grieving family is left to grapple with sudden loss, unanswered questions, and a future forever altered by a moment on a village road.