Kairuni horrific accident
Family members of the eight-year-old girl who, along with her grandmother and aunt, was killed in a horrific accident on Sunday night are calling for justice and assistance.
Akese Jerome
Akese Jerome, her grandmother Anthonia Henry, and her aunt Melina Emmanuel were killed when a speeding car crashed into them as they were sitting at the curbside along the Kairuni Public Road, Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
Police had said motor car PHH 6628, which was being driven by a 39-year-old fireman of Mackenzie, Linden, was proceeding south along the eastern side of the road at a fast rate of speed, when he lost control and collided with the left side curb of the road.
The motor car then ploughed into a group of persons, all relatives, who were sitting on the side of the road on the said curb.
The little girl was picked up in an unconscious state, placed into a passing vehicle and taken to the Diamond hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Henry and Emmanuel were also picked up in an unconscious state and placed into a passing vehicle and taken to the Mackenzie Public Hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
Other relatives, Alena Persaud and Rodwell Jerome, were also picked up in an unconscious state and placed into a passing vehicle. They were taken to the Mackenzie Hospital, where they were both examined by a doctor on duty.
Alena was then transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she was placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) while Jerome was presently under observation at the Mackenzie Hospital.
A notice of intended prosecution has been served on the driver who is presently in custody. A breathalyser test was carried out on him, but no alcohol was found in his system.
When Guyana Times visited the home of the family in the quiet Amerindian community, relatives were in a state of shock and deep grief.
The little girl’s uncle, Fabian Hosea told this publication that the driver of the vehicle claimed he had a “blown-out tyre” which caused him to lose control of the car.
Along with his niece, it was his mother and sister who died in the horrendous smash-up.
“When I went out there, I saw my mother on the ground, my sister, my brother-in-law and my little niece…my mother was already dead, the little girl was already dead and only my sister, she was still alive but after she went to the hospital, I think she died in the hospital,” the man recounted.
Up to press time, he said his other injured relatives were battling for their lives. According to Hosea, his mother and sister were well-known in the area. He said his mother, in particular, played an important role as a caregiver to the family who originally hailed from the North West District (NWD).
They have been living at Kairuni for some 20 years. “My mother was a very loving woman and caring, well- concerned, she was well-known around the area as “Granny”, everybody respected her. To her grandchildren and children around here, she was a really important person to them… My sister was the same kind of person, she never used to go about and get herself involved in things and just live around, she never was employed anywhere, she was just a housewife…The child was just a little girl, she used to go Silver Hill Primary School. I never had this kind of experience, I mean it’s three of them [that died], not only one,” the man expressed.
