Mahaica fatal smash-up: “Stop drinking and driving because you are causing innocent lives” – survivor

– “Mommy if I pass to go to a school in town, will you send me? – mother recalls 11-Y-O daughter asking her

One day after a traffic accident that claimed the lives of four persons along the De Hoop Public Road, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD), 21-year-old Vikram Ramjawan of Besty Ground, East Canje, Berbice, who survived that accident, is calling on drivers to act in a more responsible manner.
In fact, he urged motorists to “Stop drinking and driving because you are causing the lives of innocent people.”

The two-vehicle collision has left Kellon Jones called “Backless”, 33, of Fort Ordinance, East Canje, Berbice; Jason Rudder, 37, and his daughter, Jamella Rudder of Glasgow Housing Scheme; and Chris Gonsalves, 26, of Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD) dead.
At the time of the accident, Jones was the driver of a motor car bearing registration number PMM 7104 with four passengers including the Rudders, Shelly Harry, 50, of Fort Ordinance and Ramjawan. The other car, PPP 4090, was driven by Gonsalves, and he was only occupant.
According to the Police, Jones was heading to Berbice while Gonsalves was heading in the opposite direction at a fast rate of speed and under the influence of alcohol. The cars reportedly collided head-on.

Both drivers, along with the occupants, received injuries and were pulled from the wreckage with severe body injuries. They were rushed to the Mahaicony Public Hospital where Rudder and his daughter along with Gonsalves and Jones were pronounced dead.
Harry and Ramjawan were treated, but while Ramjawan was sent away, Harry was transferred to Georgetown Public Hospital suffering from a fractured right leg.
Reports are that Gonsalves had just left a bar in a drunken state even though persons warned him not to drive under the influence.
However, Ramjawan was sitting in the front passenger’s seat and recalled that leading up to the accident, he saw a bright light coming towards them.
“We see a black thing coming and the driver tried to swerve in the corner but it was too late. The car that was coming had on headlights and it run into we. When I look, I see the driver mash up…”

He related that while at the hospital, he learnt that the driver was highly intoxicated and would have been heard telling his friends that he didn’t mind dying when drove off from a popular shop in Mahaica.
“Stop drinking and driving because you are causing the lives of innocent people,” were Ramjawan’s words to other drivers who ply the roadways on a daily basis. He is thankful for life but is saddened at the manner in which the occupants of the car in which he was travelling met their demise.
At the time of the accident, Jones was working his car as a taxi and would have left Georgetown with the four passengers. The 11-year-old Rudder had earlier in the day attended a bursary award ceremony at her father’s place of employment – GuyOil – where she was honoured for her performance at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).
Speaking with her mother, Shaneah Henry, on Sunday, she related that her daughter was awarded a place at President’s College and had returned home after her first week because she needed her old school uniform to attend the award ceremony.
“We had decided that she would come home once every term or once every month,” the aggrieved mother said with tears in her eyes.
“Yesterday (Saturday) I bathe and dress her and tied her ribbon and carried her out and put her in a car in New Amsterdam. It was she and her father. I called her at 12 o’clock and she said she was not finished as yet and she told me she would call when she was finished. She didn’t call and then last night I got a call saying that she and her father met in an accident and she is no more.”
“She said, ‘Mom, I will pass and make you proud. She said, ‘Mommy, if I pass to go to a school in town, will you send me?’ And I told her yes.”
On the other hand, Jones was described as a very jovial person by his mother, Coretta Gomes, who stated that he always smiled brightly. “He always says nice things to people. He was a loving child.”
Gomes stated that she heard of the accident through one of her son’s friends who went to the scene. “And then he called back and said ‘Backless’ gone, he gone’.”
Meanwhile, in the wake of the accident which took the lives of four, including her son, the mother is also advising persons not to drink and drive. (Andrew Carmichael)