Wife recalls last minutes spent with now dead husband

Dennis Street fatal accident

The family of 52-year-old Joseph Semple of C Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown, who died after he collided with a motor car on Tuesday last along Dennis Street, Sophia, Greater Georgetown, is still in shock and disbelief.

Semple succumbed while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) one day after the accident where he received severe bodily injuries.
When Guyana Times visited the home of the dead man, his reputed wife, Molly Fordyce, explained that she last saw him alive when he returned home from work at about 13:00h on the day in question. “I did not prepare lunch. I say boy me ain’t cook as yet, I told him that I was feeling tired. He said alright lie down and rest and he left. I had to go in to work for six and I was waiting for him to come home, but he did not return,” the woman stated.
Fordyce said after time elapsed, her husband did not return home so when ventured out to work.
“Before 7’o clock, while I was at work, my cousin called me and told me that black boy get knock down… shortly after I heard the ambulance blowing and I said well this got to be serious. I kept calling my cousin to find out where the accident took place, but I didn’t get on to her until I call another cousin and she went to the scene.”

The woman said Semple’s sudden death has shaken up the family. She noted that at the hospital, her husband was on life support and the doctors had given up on him due to the extent of the injuries he sustained.
Semple’s cousin, Umberlene Appolo, said: “We had no other choice than to pull the machine because doctors say they give up on him because he is on a life machine and he is not responding. Everything in his body shut down. He lost his eyes, his tongue… His sister decided to tell them pull the machine because it didn’t make sense punishing him like that.”
Meanwhile, Traffic Chief Ramesh Ashram, and other members of the Guyana Police Force visited the family on Friday to offer their condolences.
It was reported that at about 18:30h on Tuesday last, the now dead man was riding his pedal cycle along Dennis Street when he was struck down by motor car PXX 5407, driven by a 30-year-old resident of Pattensen, Greater Georgetown. The car was reportedly travelling at a fast pace at the time of the collision.
The police revealed that while in the vicinity of Black and White Access Road, the pedal cyclist reportedly rode across the road and ended up in the path of the motor car.
As a result, the front right-side bumper of the car struck the left side of the pedal cycle, causing the cyclist and his bicycle to be tossed some distance away.
Due to the severe injuries about his body, Semple was picked up and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital in a semi-conscious state, and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He died at about 16:50h on Wednesday.
The driver of the motor car is expected to be charged shortly.