Teen killed after allegedly riding into minibus’s path

A 17-year-old labourer is the latest road fatality after he allegedly rode into the path of a speeding minibus along the Good Faith Public Road, East Coast Demerara (ECD) on Monday evening.

Dead is Ricardo James of Lot 12 Recess Village, Mahaicony, ECD.
According to reports, the minibus, PTT 5273, was proceeding West along the roadway while the teenage cyclist was heading East.
However, it is alleged that the young man suddenly swerved into the path of the bus and collided with the front left side. As a result, the front wheel of the pedal cycle was dislodged, resulting in the young man falling to the roadway where he sustained severe head injuries.
He was picked up in an unconscious state and rushed to the Mahaicony Cottage Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The driver of the minibus was taken into Police custody as traffic ranks conduct their investigations.
When contacted, the teen’s mother, Donna Madray explained that her family was originally from Moruca, North West District (NWD), but just over a year ago, they took up residency at Recess.
She explained that her now dead son, Ricardo, left Moruca at the age of 14 and stayed with her brother on the Linden- Soesdyke Highway where he assisted him on a chicken farm. After spending some time there, he migrated to Suriname.
He, however, returned to Guyana two months ago. In tears, the grieving mother related that her son would have been celebrating his 18th birthday on Thursday. She explained that James worked with her husband, who is a contractor, and on Monday they worked for half the day.
“He come home about 1pm (13:00h) and he helped do some work in the yard … then he left about 6pm (18:00h) to go meet his friend …that is the only friend he has since he came to live with us,” she posited.
Madray explained that although the accident occurred about 20:30h, she learnt of her son’s demise after 23:00h. She was informed of the accident by two Police ranks who visited her home. Upon receiving the news, she went to the Mahaicony Hospital, but was told that her son’s body was already in the mortuary.
As she enquired from her son’s friend what took place, he reportedly told her that after James arrived at his place, he left soon afterwards to purchase cigarettes and after some time had elapsed and he did not see him return, he went to look for him.
“He tell me that as he was searching, he saw my son’s bicycle in the middle of the road and after he find out, he was told that there was an accident,” the woman cried. She is, however, furious that the friend did not inform her earlier of the accident and ultimately the loss of her son’s life. She described her son as a hard-working person who always looked out for his young siblings. He was the second of seven children.
The Police stated that a post-mortem would be performed on the teen’s body on Friday. He leaves to mourn his parents and six siblings. (Bhisham Mohamed)