Pedal cyclist Doodnauth Sookraj of Lot 124 Whim Village, Corentyne Berbice was struck and killed by a motor car along the Whim Public Road on Sunday at about 1:30h.
The bicycle which Sookraj was riding
Reports received detail that the motor car, being driven by Goutam Budhoo, made a turn into an access road and collided with the 45-year-old pedal cyclist, who sustained injuries as he fell on the roadway.
After some time had elapsed, Sookraj was rushed in an unconscious state to the Port Mourant Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Budhoo was arrested, and a breathalyser test administered on him proved that his alcohol consumption was above the legal limit.
This publication was told that at the time of the accident, three other persons were in the car, including the nephew of the late Doodnauth Sookraj.
Mahindra Sookraj said he witnessed his uncle being killed. The 25-year-old told Guyana Times that he and Budhoo were at a shop imbibing, and it was on their way home that the accident occurred.
The car that was involved in the accident
He said the driver drove home and reported to his brother that he had just hit someone and the person was lying on the roadway.
According to Sookraj, Budhoo’s brother suggested that they return to the area to check on the person. As they checked, the men realized that it was a neighbour and the uncle of Budhoo’s drinking buddy.
“Ah pick he up and carry he (to) hospital, and they said he dead,” a devastated Sookraj stated.
He recalled that, at the scene of the accident, his now dead uncle was trying to tell him something, but at that moment he took his last breadth. The aggrieved nephew confirmed that the driver was highly intoxicated.
“He bin drunk and swing in the dam, and me uncle went at the corner and move when he see de car; but he (Budhoo) can’t control the car, and (it) knock meh uncle…,” Sookraj detailed.
Meanwhile, Simone Nagamootoo, mother of the now dead Doodnauth Sookraj and a niece of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, told this publication that she received a telephone call from the hospital informing her of what had transpired, and her widowed daughter-in-law was accordingly informed.
Now widowed, Knche Reddi told Guyana Times that she and her husband had left home at about 22:30h to go to a wake, but he told her that he had to get cigarettes, and that he would walk to the shop to buy same before going to the wake.
The devastated wife described her husband as having been a very willing person. He had worked at the Albion Sugar Estate for the past 28-years, and has left to mourn his wife and three children.
