A Linden trip ended tragically early yesterday morning when a car transporting six persons slammed into a parked motor lorry on the Linden Highway killing four of its occupants.
Among the dead is Police Constable Troy Bramble, who according to reports had to report for duty yesterday morning, hence the group’s early morning return to the city from the mining town. Also killed in the accident were Ashanti Gomes-Odle, 21, Selema Mohamed, 24, and Candace Simon, 26, all of whom were residing at Lot 6, Lamaha Park.
The two other occupants, 27-year-old Aubrey Renville of Guyhoc Park, the driver of the car and 21-year-old Bevon Hector of Ann’s Grove, East Coast Demerara are in the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC). Hector is said to be in a critical condition.
According to a police release, the accident occurred at around 3:30 am yesterday in the vicinity of Camp Seweyo, Linden Highway when the car ran into the rear of the parked motor lorry and trailer which was transporting a bulldozer and had developed engine problems. Parked trailers have caused similar accidents in the past.
Chaotic
It was a chaotic scene at the GPHC yesterday morning as many relatives and friends of the injured and dead descended on the hospital all demanding to see the bodies of the dead. Officials were forced to close the gates leading to the mortuary of the hospital and even then some persons opted to jump the fence in an effort to see the remains of their loved ones.
“No more viewing of bodies, persons jumping the fence and we can’t allow this to happen,” an official of the hospital was forced to tell the remaining friends and relatives standing at the gates. Some other persons were even clamouring to see the bodies as they said that their relatives had not returned home from a trip to Linden and they wanted to ensure that they were not among the dead.
A brave Vance Hodge told tearful relatives after viewing the bodies that they wouldn’t have wanted to see how the women were disfigured.
The woman is the mother of Candace but she said all three of the girls were like her daughters as it was from her home they left Saturday night for Linden.
“I don’t know how I could take this thing, I don’t know,” the woman said as she held her stomach.
According to a young woman, who said she was travelling a short distance behind when the accident happened, Salema, who was the front seat passenger, was dead by the time she got out of her vehicle. Salema, from reports, sustained the worst injuries of the four.
The witness said that one of the women, whose hands and feet were broken, was still breathing when they were on the scene and persons attempted to perform CPR but she died in the process. The policeman was also dead by then.
The third victim was pitched into a bushy area and it was only after the police arrived on the scene with some lights that she was found and she was the one who was alive when they left the scene but died by the time they arrived at the hospital.
‘No proper lights’
Relatives of the driver yesterday attempted to convince the relatives of the dead that he was not at fault as according to them the motor lorry was parked badly and there were no proper lights.
“If you see how this thing park and the driver say how he get lights but the light on the bulldozer and if you as a driver see that you would think is a vehicle coming towards you,” a brother of the driver said. The young man, who would not give his name, said that he travelled up to the scene of the accident as he wanted to confirm that his brother was indeed involved in an accident.
He said he was responsible for the car, belonging to the Pretty Posse Taxi Services, being transported to the city. Persons were surprised that the relatives of the driver were able to remove the car from the accident site as they feel the vehicle should have been in the custody of the police. However, up to yesterday afternoon the car was near to a night spot in Tucville and many persons took the opportunity to inspect it.
“How people live from this boy, he had to be speeding…” one person commented as he looked into the bloody interior of the vehicle.
According to the man, who maintained that his brother was not the wrong party in the accident, this was the third serious accident his brother has been involved in.
“This is the third serious accident this man involve in and he come out almost scot-free you know, this man really lucky,” he said. When probed by Stabroek News for more details on the other two accidents he clammed up.
“He better give he life to Jesus and stop driving, God has some purpose for him,” commented a woman at the hospital and to this his brother said, “For real, he should give he life to God.”
‘I must tell Jesus’
“I must tell Jesus all of my troubles, I cannot bear these burdens alone,” the words of Jamaican singer Sanchez were being belted out when a visit was made to the home the three young women left at around 11pm on Saturday night for the Linden Town Week celebration.
The words were apt for those gathered at the home, moreso for Hodge, who was inconsolable as she reminisced.
Stabroek News was told that Salema and Ashanti live in neighbouring Suriname but were spending some time at Ashanti’s home. The three were set to return to the Dutch speaking country yesterday.
“I tell dem girls nah to go last night. You know I tell dem don’t go,” said a lad yesterday as he shook his head in dismay.
“Even if they want go why dem ent sleep off the party and come home later?” questioned one of the male occupants of the home. A relative said that it was Renville and Bramble who visited the home and collected the three young women.
Both Ashanti and Candace have left behind two children. While Candace’s children, two girls, one of whom is less than a year, were at the home of her mother, Ashanti’s children are in Suriname.
Bramble’s mother said she was shocked when she received news of her son’s death. Cherryl Barry recalled that her son was a loving and caring individual. She said he joined the Guyana Police Force in 1993 and spent most of his time at the East Coast Demerara village of Ann’s Grove. The grieving woman said that Bramble recently moved in with her at her Tuschen Housing scheme home. She said her son has an older sister, Bonita. The woman said yesterday morning she received a call from a relative who told her that her son was involved in an accident and that he had passed away.
Hector, a 21-year-old serviceman employed with the Regional Democratic Council, Region 4, is in a stable condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital. His father, Owen Hector told this newspaper yesterday at the family’s Ann’s Grove home, that his son and Bramble had been friends for years. He said when he called his son late on Saturday night on his mobile phone, the young man told him that he and his friends were hanging out at the village of Victoria. The man said he was shocked yesterday morning when he received a call informing him of the accident. He said the caller at the other end told him that Bramble had died in the accident ‘on the highway’ early yesterday morning. Hector said his thoughts immediately went to his son since he knew the two were close friends. The elder Hector said that his son, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Friday, suffered injuries to his head, neck and spine.
The man said he and his wife are based in the interior and only recently came down to their East Coast Demerara home to purchase rations. He said he was preparing to return to the interior this week but he will now have to shelve those plans.
At Ann’s Grove, friends of the two young men were still in a state of disbelief. A friend told this newspaper that they would spend a lot of time together in the village and only last Friday Hector held a party to celebrate his birthday. When this newspaper caught up with him yesterday, the friend had minutes earlier returned from the scene of accident. The young man expressed hope that his hospitalized friends would soon recover from their injuries. (Additional reporting by Alva Solomon)
