Mother calls for full investigation into son’s death

Highway resort tragedy

The mother of the late 18-year-old Ronaldo Gomes, called “Naldo,” is calling for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding her son’s tragic death on Saturday during an outing at a private resort on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway.
The lifeless body of the former student of both the Business School and School of the Nations was pulled from the black water almost two hours after he had gone missing. When pulled from the water, it was discovered that the teen’s face was disfigured, and upon enquiring, relatives were told that he had come into contact with a jet-ski earlier in the day. Although that had been the case, the rider of the jet-ski had not reported the incident. It was not until a search had been launched for the teen that someone reportedly told personnel at the resort that the teen had

come into contact with one of the jet-skis.
Guyana Times understands that the teenager’s body was recovered at the same spot where he had been struck by the jet-ski.
At his home on Monday, the late teenager’s mother, Paula Williams, told Guyana Times she had last spoken with her late teenage son on Saturday morning, when he informed her that he was not working; but at no time during the conversation did he say he was going to the creek.
“He went to the creek with a cousin… I was told it was an outing to celebrate a child’s 5th birthday, so definitely there was no alcohol… At about 4:30pm (16:30h), his cousin went to buy some ice for the party, and when he come back, Naldo ask him to take a swim, but he (Naldo) was told that it was late and they were about to leave,” the woman stated. He (Naldo) nevertheless persuaded his cousin to allow him to take “one final swim”.
However, at about 17:00h, when everyone else had boarded the bus, the late teen’s cousin enquired about him, but was told he had gone to take a swim.
Guyana Times was told that persons disembarked the bus and started to search for the teen, but there was no sign of him. At the time, there was reportedly no personnel at the resort to assist them in their search, and as such, the driver went to make a missing person’s report at the nearby Police station.
While there, he received a telephone call from someone, informing him that his cousin’s body had been found. “His face, neck and arm were injured…that is no drowning…the person who hit him with the boat drove away and left him to die,” the mother told this publication.
She is adamant that the person who had been driving the jet-ski had not been sufficiently alert. ‘If you are in a boat driving, and it hits even a coconut shell, the driver will know he hit something…,” she added.
“What is more worrying too, is the fact that when an alarm was raised that my son was missing, there were no life guards and workers of the resort present to help look for him,” the aggrieved mother noted.
The Police, she explained, have not gotten back to the family, but would have indicated that they could not do anything until the post mortem is conducted. That procedure is slated for Wednesday at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Williams has said she would await the results of the autopsy to determine the way forward, but she is convinced that her son did not die by drowning; and even if that had been the case, it was the injuries from the Jet Ski hit that had caused him to drown.
The dead teen, a lover of dogs, has been described as a jovial, well-mannered sport fanatic. He leaves to mourn his parents and four siblings.