New Year’s Day Cemetery Rd crash victim fighting to recover

Six weeks after he was struck by an out-of-control car on New Year’s Day at Cemetery Road, 62-year-old Brian Devine is still hospitalized at the George-town Public Hospital (GPH) fighting to recover from the injuries he sustained.

Devine, a resident of East La Penitence, sustained multiple injuries including broken legs, broken ribs, a broken hip, a fractured neck, head injuries and a damaged eye. The accident claimed the life of Devine’s friend, George Baker.

According to reports, Devine and Baker along with Anaynasa Thorne, 18, were standing at a stall on the eastern side of the eastern carriageway on Cemetery Road when motor car PNN 7977 ploughed into them.

The driver Roger Bess was subsequently slapped with five charges including causing death by dangerous driving, and released on a total of $200,000 bail.

Devine’s sister Audrey Devine told Stabroek News yesterday that she is trying all she can with her brother but it is now at the stage where she cannot even make it to visit him at the hospital and she sends food for him with his nephews. The frustrated woman said that during her brother’s stay at the hospital, he had done about three surgeries to his hip, foot and ribs but the pain would not cease. In addition, Audrey said, her brother lost an eye and the most sad part about everything is that after weeks being hospitalised, he is still unable to do things for himself including walking.

The woman said that her brother was discharged from the hospital but to date she cannot move him from there because she cannot manage with him on her own.

This, she said, has caused her to look for a nurse to take care of him when she takes him home. Audrey pointed out that her brother is an elderly man and being the only provider for him places a financial strain on her.

The woman recalled that when Brian was younger, he was involved in an accident where he sustained serious injuries to his back and foot and this has caused his current injuries to be worse. Devine was said to be in a lot of pain yesterday.