Woman wanted for causing death by dangerous driving turns self in
– says accident was caused by brake failure
Three days after Police issued a wanted bulletin for Melissa Monilla for causing death by dangerous driving, the woman has turned herself in to Police in Berbice.
On Friday last, Police issued a wanted bulletin for Monilla and on Monday afternoon, in the company of her lawyer Joel Edmonds, she turned herself over to the Police at Fort Wellington.
Melissa Monilla making her way into the Fort Wellington Police Station
After seeing the bulletin, the 36-year-old woman contacted her attorney on Monday and asked him to take her in after giving a statement.
Edmond told Guyana Times that he also met with a senior officer from the Traffic Department who gave certain directions to the Police.
“She is claiming that the Police did not contact her after the accident. One of the officers told me that they checked for her in Bath Settlement at some known address and they checked at Good Hope. That is not the address my client gave to me so apparently; they were checking at some place other than her home.
“She spent a couple of weeks at Woodlands Hospital and she is doing homecare right now. She is not able to walk by herself right now, she has to be assisted by someone,” Edmond told this publication.
According to Monilla, after the accident, she blacked out and cannot recall what actually transpired.
However, recounting the seconds leading up to the accident, she said an apparent brake failure caused the crash. “The steering give up with me and I started to sway and try to mash brakes, no brakes. I turned…and into the fence. After that, I don’t know anything,” the woman related.
The accident occurred on February 7 at Number 29 Village, West Coast Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), as Monilla was driving from Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, heading to Bath Settlement.
Three persons, who were occupants in Monilla’s vehicle, were injured when the car crashed into a concrete fence and then into another car before coming to a halt. One of the three injured persons, Simone Paul, subsequently succumbed to her injuries.
