Minibus conductor in Herstelling accident succumbs

… driver on .5M bail

Following the death of the minibus conductor who succumbed to his injuries two days after the Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD), minibus accident, the driver was charged on Friday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts with causing death by dangerous driving.

Kevin Ferrel was granted bail by Magistrate Judy Latchman in the sum of $1.5 million. Ferrel pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that on October 11, 2016, at the Herstelling Public Road, EBD, he drove a minibus bearing registration plates BVV 901 in a manner dangerous to the public, thereby causing the death of Leonard Henry.
Attorney Stanley Moore, who represented the defendant, made an application for Ferrel to be granted his pre-trial liberty pending the outcome of the matter. His application for bail was on the basis that his client is not a flight risk, neither is he likely to interfere with the prosecution’s witnesses.
The Police Prosecutor told the court that he had no objections to bail. As such, Ferrel was granted bail and ordered to return to court on November 1, for statements before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.
The court heard that the deceased was the owner of the bus.
According to reports, just before 10:00h on Tuesday last, the driver of the Route 42 minibus lost control of the vehicle, causing it to crash into a utility pole before toppling on its left side. The accident occurred a short distance from the Providence Police Station.
Additional reports reaching Guyana Times indicate that when the minibus toppled, the conductor’s head was pinned under the vehicle.
A passenger who was in the bus spoke to this newspaper, relating that the bus was heading to Georgetown and as it was navigating the ‘S’ turn at Herstelling, it encountered problems.
“The bus start wobbling like something wrong with the back wheel and when the bus go around the turn, it start wobbling more bad. (The driver) couldn’t pull breaks cause if he do that, everybody in the bus woulda look bad,” the man recalled.
However, he continued that “the alternative the driver had to (take) was turn the bus to go over the other side (eastern carriage way) but when the bus turn, it fall on the one side.”
According to the passenger who sustained injuries to his left arm and shoulder, the conductor sustained the most severe injuries as he was bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth.
“Well the bus fall on (the conductor) head, how he deh on the road, the bus fall on his head… I went right behind he but I couldn’t help he cause I was in a bad state. All I do was try to run out the bus and try to check meh self,” the man recalled.
The other passengers with serious injuries were 16-year-old Jessica Saywanauth who sustained injuries to her back and a 52-year-old Chinese national, Jing Bin Su, who was injured to the back of his neck.
This newspaper also spoke to a few other passengers who sustained minor injuries and they claimed the bus was speeding.
Meanwhile, construction workers nearby told Guyana Times that they heard the loud impact and subsequently saw the bus on its side. Public spirited citizens along with Police Officers from the nearby station rushed to the scene, and assisted in pulling the passengers from the overturned vehicle. They were then placed into another minibus and taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, where most of them were treated and sent away while Henry, Saywanauth and Jing Bin Su were transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital for further treatment.