An accident on the Corentyne Highway early yesterday morning has taken the life of a 37-year-old minibus driver, who was the sole occupant of his vehicle at the time.
Dead is Romain Drepaul of Lot 7 Section ‘A’ Lancaster Village, Corentyne.
Stabroek News understands that Drepaul was driving minibus BHH 3711 along the Corentyne Highway at Bush Lot. Reports are that the bus hit a donkey that was on the highway, ran off the road, and smashed into the rear of a parked truck belonging to the Guyana Power and Light Inc.
Romain Drepaul
People from the area heard the impact and ran to Drepaul’s aid, but could do nothing as he was tightly pinned behind the steering wheel. It took a tractor along with the assistance of residents of the community and police officers from Whim Police Station to rip out the driver’s side of the vehicle along with the steering wheel to free the trapped man.
According to Raffina Ali, Drepaul’s sister-in-law, the man had left home earlier that night to visit relatives. He would have been on his way back home when the accident occurred.
The police said in a press release that the accident occurred at 12.30 am yesterday.
In the wee hours of yesterday, she said, a minibus driver, who they knew, went and told them that Drepaul had been in an accident and that they should go quickly because it was serious.
When they got there, Drepaul was still pinned by the steering wheel and people were still making futile manual efforts to extricate him.
The sister-in-law said, “Me see meh brother-in-law hand hang outside de window and he head turn to one side, and he look unconscious. We had to tek one tractor and pull out ah front side and steering wheel to free he foot.“
The woman said Drepaul had been a careful driver and had never been involved in an accident before.
Relatives told Stabroek News that apart from a small wound on the left side of his forehead, which was bleeding Drepaul appeared to be unscathed by the accident. However, he was taken to the Port Mourant Hospital where he was
pronounced dead a few minutes later.
When Stabroek News visited the man’s home yesterday morning a number of mourners, most of whom were schoolmates and teachers of Drepaul’s nine-year-old son Renaldo, had gathered.
His oldest daughter, 13-year-old Farzana, tearfully related that the last time she saw her father was around 7.30 pm on Sunday. He had taken her along with her brother and little sister to the horse races earlier in the day. Shortly after they returned home, she said, his brother called from Number 43 Village and asked to see him.
According to Farzana, her dad told her mom “ah goin and ah coming back jus now”, but he never returned.
Drepaul’s youngest daughter Serena, was jovial like any other four-year-old and seemingly oblivious of what had occurred. The man’s wife, Shereen Ali was at the hospital when this newspaper visited.
Relatives said two things were responsible for the accident; the stray animals on the road and the truck parked on the shoulder of the road. “If dem things nah been deh, Romain would still been alive today,” a relative said.
Drepaul leaves to mourn his wife Shereen Ali and three children, along with relatives and friends.
Meanwhile, the minibus and truck are at the Whim police station and police are continuing their investigations.
Whenever there is a serious accident on those roads, then there is so much rambling about stray animals and what should be done about them, after the excitement wears off, then there is a lull in and opinions, nothing is done to correct the situation, then another serious accident, and the ramblings start all over again, same old story, same cycle, same roads, same animals, same accidents, nothing new.
It is a sad day for the Drepaul’s family, my condolences. Having said that, let us examine this situation carefully. Was there a a tire screen mark? this would give an idea how fast this bus was travelling. Anyone claimed onwner ship of the animal which may have contributed to this tragic accident? Now the GPL truck, my question is how did this truck contributed to the accident, was this truck moving at the time? Well based on the reporters’account presented the truck was parked. Conslusively, we may not be able to determine if the the truck was properly parked on the roadside to prevent any hinderance to traffic flow.
Now the main course, since Mr. Drepual was supposingly returning from a visit from his brother in 43 village. Now we have to implement the law here, Mr Drepual autopsy should be able to reveal what was in the blood of Mr. Drepaul, if anything, interms of any foreign substance and or liquid which should not be present at the time of his premature demise.
It is awlays sad when a bred winner dies on the road in our country whether they are the drivers and or the pedestrians. I hope to really put some closure this the family should have a toxicology test performed on the corpse of Mr. Drepaul. It is the right thing to do and the Police should also ensure that this is done.
i4ithal
Look at you play CSI and trying this case from your cushy chair!
Unless you were there, don’t be so hasty to judge this man. According to the article he was a loving family man who took his kids on an outing earlier in the day. A person can visit relatives with out clinking glasses filled with rum. I would guess the donkey had a starring role in this accident.
My sincere sympathies to the widow and fatherless children, May you be blessed with strength and courage to endure this untimely death of your loved one!
my prayers goes out to his family
There is either no laws requiring the branding of animals or such a law is not enforced. Most of us who live overseas remember the good ole days when such laws were in existence and were enforced. Sadly, those days seem to have become a distant memory since on my trips home I cannot remember seeing cows with ownership brands on them. I may be totally wrong on this but I cannot recall seeing it. In addition, the Police stations had a corral for impounding animals but such a thing is non-existent and I suppose in the great scheme of things, impounding stray animals might just be way down on the list of things for the Police to do. There are just too many crimes to prosecute than owners of stray animals.
… donkeys & gpl … always contributing to deaths in one way or the other …
H
dem lucky dem ent got banum if nat gpl and donkeys would be banned eheheheheh
de ranks in de “clan” growing thin ! JD [slingshot] ,, we got to watch we self bai ,,,,,,, ah know yuh gon read dis ,, an when u do ,, give me a hollah ,, and tell meh is who son dis !!!!!!
Romain’s lass name like de “Ragnauths” ,, is family !!!!!!!
My deepest sympathy goes to shereen and her family.May the support of friends and family and the love of God bring you comfort in the days ahead.
Romain was my uncle and reading some of these comments from the readers is totally uncalled for a hard working husband, father, brother, uncle has lost his life in such an unfortunate accident and should be honored and remembered in the positive ways to allow his wife, children, and the rest of our family to grieve for this unfortunate accident so for those ignorant people with the heartless and ignorant comments and assumptions please keep them to yourselves or instead say prayer for his 3 beautiful children and his wife to give them the strength to carry on with their lives
My sincere sympathy goes out to shereen and family.All trucks parked on the highways of Guyana should have reflectors placed on the road at reasonable distances in front and at the rear of the vehicles. In the North even during the day when a truck is parked on the shoulder of the road reflectors can be seen in front and at the rear of the trucks. Years ago there were men who caught animals and took them to be impounded at the station and they were paid for getting animals off the streets. Owners of animals paid more attention to their donkeys and cattle. The old system should be reintroduced.
However,I think the owner of the donkey and GPL should be also held responsible if the driver was not under the influence.
Sorry this gentleman lost his life.I had a similar encounter on this highay,I hit a black cow that was lying on the warm asphalt one night.I was lucky because I was not speeding.The owners of these animals should be held accountable.I am sure if someone started to drive at night and eliminate these animals indiscriminately,be it cow ,horse, donkey or goat I assure you these owners will respond, because some of them will be losing their means of support.Is it fair for Mr Drepaul”s family to loose their means of support like that? Come on!!!!!