Soldier still unconscious after being hit by bus

Selwyn Woodroffe, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Sergeant who was hit on Saturday morning by a speeding Route 45 minibus, remains hospitalised in a critical state.

Woodroffe, 36, of Lot 125 Crane Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara, was attempting to cross Church and Water streets around 9 am on Saturday when he was hit by the minibus, which pitched him several feet across the road.

He was picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), where he remained a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) up to late yesterday afternoon.

Selwyn Woodroffe
Selwyn Woodroffe

In the waiting area of the ICU yesterday, a number of relatives and friends of the injured man, who is a father of two, gathered as they took turns visiting him.

Among them were his wife, Gaynel Woodroffe, who said she was told that her husband, who was on duty at the time of the accident, was making his way to a store in order to make a purchase.

She said as a result of the accident, he sustained serious head injuries and he hasn’t regained consciousness since. According to Gaynel, she was recently informed by the doctors that until Selwyn regains consciousness, there is nothing they can do since his brain is swollen and he sustained a fractured skull.

“While I am praying that my husband pulls through this, what I know for sure is that the driver will pay for this,” she said. She added that many persons in the vicinity of where the accident occurred know the driver and described him as the “wildest” one who operates along the route.

A bystander had said he saw Selwyn attempting to cross the road before hearing a loud noise. “When I turn and look, I see the man on the ground knock out,” the man, who did not want to be named, had said.

The driver of the minibus has been arrested and is currently in police custody.