Man dies in suspected hit and run at Friendship

A 31-year-old Annandale resident was on Saturday night reportedly struck down on the Friendship Railway Embankment and left to die.
The body of Victor Anthony Sancho was discovered at around 5 am yesterday on the embankment but reports are that the man had been lying on the roadway for hours.

Because of his habitual imbibing of alcohol some thought he might have just been under the influence and had fallen asleep. It was only after some persons investigated that they found that the man was dead and blood was seen oozing from his nose. There were also marks on his back, according to a police release.

The shocking thing about the accident, according to the man’s relatives, was that the driver of the red vehicle which reportedly struck the man down returned to the scene several hours after and removed shards from broken lights from the scene of the accident.

Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday the man’s mother, Joy Sancho, said that she received information about her son’s death from a friend. While the man did not live with his mother he would sometimes visit her in the nights to sleep and it is felt that he was on his way to her home when tragedy struck. Sancho had gone to a wedding earlier in the evening on the Buxton Public Road and it is suspected that he may have drank and was making his way to his mother’s home when he was struck down.

Relatives said that his friend related that he saw him but he thought he might have just been lying there drunk. However, on closer examination he saw that something was wrong. He alerted the man’s relatives, who live a short distance away from the accident, and they visited the scene and found the man lying on his face. His sister said when the body was turned over there were some marks on the man face and there was blood. Blood was still evident on the scene when this newspaper visited yesterday.

The relatives said they were told that while persons gathered around the body a man in a red vehicle drove up to the scene and started to pick up some broken lights in the vicinity. “Dem say the man was gaffing with dem and me brother friend say he see the car dent in on one side and he say to he self he wonder if it is dah man knock he down. But is when somebody say dis man dead and say look he family coming the man jump in his car and drive away,” the man’s sister related.

She said she could not understand how the man could have been so callous as to return to the scene in an attempt to remove evidence and just leave her brother to die on the road. “He coulda pick he up and tek he to the hospital, nobody ent know wah happen is only he, me brother and God. He coulda carry he to the hospital then go to the police station and make a report,” the woman lamented.
Relatives were yesterday making arrangements for the wake even as they discussed the man’s funeral. Sancho was a mason.
Police yesterday said they are awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination. (Oluatoyin Alleyne)