Mahaicony fatal crash: “No, it can’t be my son” – grieving father recalls hearing wife shouting

By LaWanda McAllister

A Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) father is grappling with shock and grief after seeing his son’s lifeless body in a video circulating on social media just hours after the two shared what he described as a routine, eventful conversation at home.
Dead is 24-year-old taxi driver Nicklas Lillah of Lot 918 Tuschen Housing Scheme, EBE, who would have celebrated his 25th birthday on April 1. He was killed on Saturday evening in a horrific crash along the Airy Hall Public Road, East Coast Demerara.
Also dead is 33-year-old Seerochanie Khemraj, a mother of one, who was seated in the front passenger seat.
When Guyana Times visited Nicklas’ home on Saturday, his father, Jamie Lillah, said his son worked with the Travel Safe Taxi Service. He said the tragedy is made even more painful by how suddenly everything unfolded.
“Yesterday [Friday] morning… around minutes to eight, I come in from work, and he was here,” the elder Lillah recalled. “That was the last I saw him.”
His son, he said, appeared to be going about his normal routine, and later that afternoon, when he returned home, his son was not at home.
“When I come back about around 2:30 [14:30h], minutes to three, he wasn’t around. He had already done left to go to his work or collect these people,” he said.
Jamie said when he arrived home, he was told that his son had taken on a hire to transport a family to Berbice, a trip his father said was not unusual given his years in the taxi business.
“He get a hire to go to Berbice, and he was taking the people,” he explained. “He did not go through the base. Anytime they got something to do, they just call him, and he just go. This is not the first time he went up there to go and drop off anybody. Even to buy groceries, he takes them.”
According to Jamie, Nicklas had been driving for close to a decade and was experienced on the road.
“He has been working taxi for a good while… about eight to ten years. He does drive long… he understands himself,” he said.

“No, it can’t be my son.”
However, the dead man’s father said the moment the family learnt of his son’s death would remain etched in his mind. He said on the night his family received the news, he was attempting to rest before heading out to work when his wife received a call that immediately raised an alarm.
“My wife got a phone call… All of a sudden, I hear she shout out and say, ‘No, it can’t be my son.’ I said, ‘something wrong,’” he recounted.
Moments later, Jamie said his daughter came across a video that began circulating, one that confirmed their worst fears.
“I saw my daughter had her phone and pelted it outside in the sand and started crying… when I go and pick up the phone, I see my son lying down in the grass corner like it was an animal get knocked down in the grass,” he said. “I was so shocked. I said, ‘no he look like he done dead.’”
The father said the image of his son lying motionless has been difficult to erase.
“I just can’t catch myself still… it’s very hard,” he added as he cried bitterly.
According to Police, the fatal crash occurred at approximately 18:45h and involved a hire car, HD 5859, which was being driven east along the northern side of Huntly Public Road at a fast rate of speed behind a line of vehicular traffic.
Investigations revealed that Nicklas allegedly attempted to overtake the line of vehicles, but, in the process, the left side of his car collided with the right-side rear-view mirror of motor car PAN 2760, which was proceeding in the same direction ahead of him.
Police said despite the collision, the hire car continued east at a fast rate of speed, and as the vehicle approached the Airy Hall Public Road, the driver reportedly lost control while negotiating a sharp bend.
The car first slammed into an aluminium rail on the eastern side of the road, then continued further before crashing into a Guyana Power and Light (GPL) utility pole. The impact left the vehicle extensively damaged.

Pulled from wreckage
Nicklas and Khemraj sustained severe head and body injuries and were pulled from the wreckage in an unconscious condition by public-spirited citizens. They were rushed to the Mahaicony Public Hospital, where both were pronounced dead on arrival.
Meanwhile, four other occupants of the vehicle, two female teenagers, aged 14 and 17, and two boys, aged 14 and 12, all from Tuschen New Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo, were rescued conscious from the wreckage. They were treated for minor injuries and admitted as patients.
Even as investigations continue, the grieving Nicklas’ father said he cannot say exactly what led to the crash but dismissed suggestions that alcohol may have played a role.
“To be honest with you, I can’t say if he was tired… but I know he wasn’t drinking,” he said. “The passengers already said nobody was drinking in the vehicle.”
He maintained that his son was a careful and experienced driver, making the accident even harder to understand.
“I don’t know how this incident happened… I wasn’t there,” he said.

Friendly, easy-going
The grieving father remembers his son as a friendly, easy-going man who kept to himself and avoided trouble.
“Nicklas is a very friendly person. He doesn’t find himself into problems… he loves making jokes; he loves to laugh…” he said.
He added that his son was not one to boast about plans, preferring instead to work quietly.
“Whatever he got in mind, he just keeps it to himself… when he ready, he just do it,” he said.
Now, the older Lillah said the family is left not only mourning his loss but also confronting the void left in the lives of his children, who must grow up without their father.
“It’s very shocking… I never expected this. He has two children, a girl who is in nursery school and a two-year-old son. This is very hard. I can’t even sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I keep seeing how my son’s body was. He was the first of seven children. He was the first to come and the first to go,” the grieving father said.
“When we went to the hospital in Mahaicony, his face was smashed in, he lost one of his hands… and his neck was broken. When I was shocked to see my son like that…” he said as he burst into tears.
Meanwhile, when Guyana Times visited the home of Khemraj, none of her family members were at home. Neighbours told this publication that they last saw her alive on Friday afternoon, sometime before leaving to go to Berbice to visit family members.
Police have since launched further investigations into the fatal crash.