A weekend of partying ended tragically for five close friends when their vehicle crashed into a concrete fence at Mahaicony, killing one and leaving the others injured on Sunday night.
Police said Ryan Singh, 25, of Now or Never, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, died in the crash, which occurred around 7.45 pm.
While police said Singh was driving the car along the roadway at Now or Never and lost control and crashed into a concrete fence, this account has been challenged.
Two of the other men who were in the vehicle were subsequently admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, while the other two were treated and sent away.
According to Sabrina Shepherd, the wife of Raul Shepherd, who was one of the passengers of the gray Toyota Carina 212 car, Singh was not driving the vehicle. She explained that when the five men had left Now or Never around 7 pm, Raul Chichester, 26, was driving the vehicle and Singh was in the back seat. She stated that the three other occupants were: Kwesi Shepherd, 22; Raul Shepherd, 23, and Trevor Chichester, 31, all of Now or Never, Mahaicony.
The Chichesters are currently admitted at the Georgetown Public Hospital, while the Shepherds are at home recovering with minor head injuries.
Sabrina said the five men were drinking and partying since early Saturday. “Is a normal thing with them; every weekend they would all put money and buy nuff drinks and sport together,” the woman said as she explained that five men had known each other for years and all work together as farmers.
She said they had been drinking since early Saturday morning and continued until the Sunday evening. “They were all high, very high. I doan know where they de going. But I hear one of them saying they going and drop some money at someone,” she recounted.
The woman recalled the moment when Shepherd’s cousin appeared breathless at her gate and informed her and other family members that he had found the five men in the wrecked vehicle. She explained that the cousin, identified as “Junior,” related to her that the five men were unconscious and “packed like sardine” in the car.
“I couldn’t breathe. My blood pressure went up and I couldn’t even move,” the woman explained, while stating that when she had arrived at the scene she immediately collapsed to the ground and started screaming. She explained that the car was so badly damaged that she thought they were all seriously injured. She explained that Junior, who drives a truck, removed the five men from the vehicle with help from others and took them to the Mahaicony Hospital.
Stabroek News was told that the accident took place at a part of the road where there is a dangerous turn that has caused many other accidents before. When Stabroek News visited the scene, there was about 20 feet of skid marks visible from the middle of the road towards the sharp turn off the road. The marks ended at the peak of the turn, where the road ends.
A resident said that at night it is hard to see the turn. The man also pointed out that the men had left very intoxicated and from the marks on the road they were speeding along the road. He said Chichester must have noticed the turn too late and tried to brake, leaving the long stretch of skid marks, before flying off the road over the gutter and into the concrete fence.
Singh is survived by his wife, Vanessa Singh, and their four-year-old daughter.
