The three-year-old girl who was struck down by a vehicle belonging to the Guyana Prison Service on Tuesday night remained in critical condition up to last evening at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

A relative of Rani Lall told Stabroek News yesterday that the child was still unconscious.  The woman said that the tests conducted so far indicate that Rani suffered severe head injuries in the accident.  She and other relatives are, however, hoping for the best.

According to the injured girl’s sister, Mariah Paul, the incident occurred on Tuesday just after 6, when she and her sister were attempting to cross over to the northern side of the Mon Repos highway. They were going to attend a religious function at a relative’s home.

Mariah, 11, said that they were on the pedestrian crossing on the southern side of the highway and were about to cross to a relative’s house on the northern side of the road. According to her, a vehicle proceeding east along the highway stopped and signalled them to cross. It was while crossing the road, the girls were struck by the driver of the Prison Service vehicle, which had licence plate number PLL 6005. Mariah said that the driver of this vehicle had in fact initially waited on them to cross the road before he sped off , hitting them in the process.

The driver was reportedly intoxicated at the time of the accident. Relatives said that he was taken into police custody following the accident.