A 54-year-old Good Intent, West Bank Demerara, man is now dead after the motorcycle he was riding collided with a man on the Belle View Public Road on Tuesday night.
According to information reaching Stabroek News, Oswald Dey, an Operations Officer at UNICEF was riding his motorcycle, CH 4288, on his way to a friend’s residence in Belle View when he collided with the man on the road.
When Stabroek News visited the man’s Good Intent home yesterday, his father and close friends had already gathered to offer his three children, with whom he resided, their condolences and emotional support.
One of his sons related that the man had to have left home sometime before 9 pm because he received the call informing him about the accident a few minutes after 9 pm.
“What seems to be the situation is that there was a junkie in the street, and because the place is not well lit he came upon the individual and applied the brakes to avoid hitting him, and flew off the bike which led to him suffering serious injuries to his neck, head and other parts of his body. We can’t confirm the direct injuries because the post-mortem examination was not done yet,” his son, Marlon Dey, explained to Stabroek News yesterday.
Dey’s three adult children related that they were shocked by the news of their father’s death since it was routine for him to go visit his friend in the area and he would either usually return home late the night or the next morning.
The family also noted that the man, their father collided with before his death, is a “known junkie” who would usually be walking aimlessly sometimes in the area.
“He’s a known junkie and he was walking recklessly on the road and from reports we have received, he had drugs in his system, so he was high and aimlessly walking on the road. What we are not sure of is if daddy had hit the man while he was walking, or the man was on the road and he tried to avoid hitting him, because the bike doesn’t have much damage but he [the junkie] does,” Dey’s son related.
However, according to the police, the pedestrian was reportedly walking north on the western side of the road while Dey was heading in the same direction.
The police also noted that the area was dark when Dey collided with the pedestrian from behind which resulted in both of the men falling on the road.
Dey suffered injuries to his head and about his body while the pedestrian suffered injuries to his right foot, head and left hand.
They were both picked up by a Police Force vehicle and rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where Dey was pronounced dead on arrival, while the pedestrian was admitted and is currently in a stable condition.
The family is unsure of when they will be able to lay the man to rest, as they are waiting on the results of the post-mortem examination, which should be performed before the end of the week.
While residents of the area are also unsure of how exactly the accident happened, they said that they are calling on the relevant authorities to fix the street lights of the neighbourhood as soon as possible.
“This is not the first time something like this happen. People does complain about them lights all the time but nobody don’t do nothing. This place does deh dark, dark when the nights come and you does can’t see anything. You know how much people does frighten to walk on that road not because of crime but because they frighten they get knock down,” one resident said, while noting that all he heard on Tuesday night was a loud crash.
Other residents also echoed similar sentiments and said that they are calling on the relevant authorities to fix the street lights.
