A 37-year-old father of two died on the spot following an early morning smash-up yesterday at Little Diamond, East Bank Demerara while the driver of the vehicle is in a critical condition.
Dead is Jude Thomas, a Sales Clerk at Ainlim, of Lot 1105, Section A, Diamond, E.B.D., who was travelling in the passenger seat of his friend’s vehicle while Andrew (only name given), of Lot 1015, Section A, Diamond, E.B.D. has been admitted to a city hospital.
The driver of the other vehicle, Steven Duncan, of Canal Number 2, is employed at the Princess International Hotel as a taxi driver and was at the time returning to his Providence base when the accident occurred.
According to another taxi driver at the hotel, Duncan was treated and sent home where he is now resting.
According to the dead man’s father-in-law, Gladstone Denny, Thomas and his friend suffered a blow out while on their way home resulting in the driver losing control of the vehicle and subsequently colliding with the other.
Denny told this newspaper that his daughter called him sometime after 1 am and told them that Thomas had died.
“She called us and told us that Jude died so I asked her are you serious? Who told you that? And she said I am right now standing looking at him, she was already at the scene,” the man explained.
He told Stabroek News that he rushed to the scene of the accident where he saw the wrecked car and the mangled body of his son-in-law.
When Duncan was contacted, he recalled seeing a vehicle speeding towards him before it started to wobble. He opined that this may have been when the two suffered the blowout. He said he mashed his brakes upon noticing this but it was too late as the vehicle crashed into his resulting in his air bag opening up, cushioning him from any major injury.
Thomas leaves to mourn his wife of 14 years and his two children 13-year-old Janelle Thomas and 6-year-old Justin Thomas.
