Vigilance youth dies after collision with trailer

Kemo Stewart
Kemo Stewart

A young man died on Friday night after he reportedly rode his motorcycle into the trailer of a truck at the junction of Water and Holmes streets, in Georgetown.

Dead is Kemo Stewart, 23, a security guard of Lot 58 Vigilance, East Coast Demerara (ECD), who succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) to the injuries he sustained after the collision.

The accident occurred around 5.15 pm and Stewart, whose injuries included a broken leg, succumbed at the hospital around 10.45 pm.

Mahendra Mahase, 36, of Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, who was the driver of the truck, GWW 6806, with trailer TVV 8386, is presently in police custody assisting with the investigation.

The truck is registered by Hack and Sons of Mahaica.

Sunday Stabroek was told that Mahase was proceeding south along the eastern carriageway of Water Street when Stewart, who was riding motor cycle CG 8686 west along Holmes Street, failed to stop and collided with the rail on the left side of the trailer.

At the dead man’s home yesterday, a number of relatives gathered and many were still trying to understand how the accident occurred.

Marlon Dolphin, a cousin who owns the motorcycle that Stewart was riding, said he fell ill early on Friday morning and the now deceased man took him to the hospital. “….So, he sit down waiting till I come out the hospital and when we done he seh he going by he child muddah in Yarrow Dam to drop off some money and he reach back safe and so, and we went by me in Brushe Dam [Friendship, ECD] and deh is where he seh, ‘Well aye, yuh alright?’ And I seh ‘Yes, I good.’ He seh, ‘Well alright, I going by Mercy Hospital to see this new security,’ and he lef on the bike,” Dolphin related.

Dolphin said as time passed and Stewart did not return, he became worried and tried to call him but got no answer. “I try calling his phone. I see that the phone keep ringing out so I seh by 7.30-8, he gon’ come… ’cause is me and he all the time”, Dolphin said.

Around 10pm on Friday, he said he called Stewart’s phone again and a doctor answered.  “One ah the doctor answer he [Stewart’s] phone and I seh ‘Who is this?’ ’Cause I keep hollering fuh ‘Kemo wah happen man.’ And the doctor ask ‘Who is this?’ And I seh I is he cousin and the doctor seh well yuh gah come down to Georgetown Hospital immediately cause this guy meet in an accident,” he added.

Dolphin said he immediately rushed to the hospital, where he found Stewart lying on a bed in intense pain. He said there was a gash to one of his feet, his face was swollen and he was covered in blood.  “He keep hollering fuh pain, so I keep saying ‘Kemo, Kemo wah happen’ and he ain’t saying nun but I seeing his bone naturally right there, he hand done strap up and hollering. So, I keep asking the nurse if they know wah really going on but nobody didn’t know nothing except he name that he give them when he reach the hospital,” Dolphin said.

Stewart succumbed while received medical attention.

“He [Stewart] riding motorbike a while now ’cause me and he together. He towing me, nah me towing him. He always the one riding,” a grieving Dolphin said.

Stewart was the father of a one-year-old child.