East Bank highway claims another life

On his way to do an errand for his mother, a 24-year-old mason died after the car that he was driving was involved in an accident on the Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara highway yesterday afternoon.

Wishart Hall of 148 CC Eccles Housing Scheme died after the car he was driving was reportedly clipped by another vehicle resulting in him crashing into a yard, hitting two fences and a electricity pole in the process. The other vehicle was said to have driven away after the incident.

Hall’s brother Christopher Roberts, 13, was also in the car at the time and suffered a broken leg, while their cousin Kevin Austin, 12, another passenger suffered lacerations to his face. Roberts was treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital and sent away, as was Austin.

The accident occurred at just around 3 pm yesterday and while reports were sketchy and persons on the scene said that they did not know how the accident occurred, this newspaper was told that the car Hall was driving, which belonged to his mother, was in the process of overtaking another vehicle when it was clipped by a RAV4.

Hall’s vehicle was heading south towards the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) at the time and according to reports, was overtaking another vehicle when the RAV4, heading in the same direction rammed it.

The resulting impact forced Hall’s car to swerve into a chain-link and wood fence which was crushed. The out of control vehicle also swiped an electricity pole causing it to lean precariously and crushed a part of another fence and turned completely around before it came to rest in the yard.

Persons hearing the sound came out of their homes and assisted in transporting the trio to the hospital where Hall was pronounced dead on arrival. The RAV4 reportedly drove away.

When Stabroek News arrived on the scene, persons had gathered there and relatives were removing items from the badly-mangled vehicle.

Crushed parts of the car littered the area.

At his home yesterday his mother, Megan Roberts and wife Alesia Series were inconsolable. Hall’s grieving sister, Nicola David told Stabroek News that her brother had been going to the family’s shop located near to the DHB to get a hammer for his mother.

She said that Hall did not normally drive the car, but their mother was not feeling well and begged him to go.

The woman related that she had learned of the incident as she was returning home from the market. “I see the crowd and a lil boy tell me what happen dey,” she said, unable to hold back her tears.

Hall was described as a “nice person.” He leaves to mourn his two daughters, four-year-old, Whitney, and five-year-old, Reshana.

His death comes even as police are on a zero-tolerance traffic campaign in the wake of a rising death toll on the country’s roadways.