Two eyewitnesses to 18-year-old Kareema Mary Cholmondeley’s final moments of life say that she threw herself into the path of the car that ran over her last Wednesday night, after repeatedly threatening to kill herself during an argument with her husband.
“She [Cholmondeley] know what she was doing because all the time here she keeping saying she gon’ kill she self, she gon’ kill she self,” an eyewitness, who wished not to be named yesterday told Stabroek News.
“…She throw she self in the middle ah the road. He [Cholmondeley’s husband] didn’t push her,” another eyewitness stated.
Since Cholmondeley’s death there have been conflicting reports about what exactly transpired.
The police had said Cholmondeley, of Lot 10 BB GEC Scheme, Hugh Ghanie Park, Cummings Lodge, was run over along the Turkeyen Railway Embankment Road around 10.30 pm last week Wednesday.
A statement from the police noted that Asif Rafeek, the teen’s 42-year-old common-law husband, had told investigators that they were having an argument before she threw herself on to the road and she was then run over.
The driver of the other car, which carried licence plate PJJ 5884, had been proceeding west along the southern side of the road.
According to the police, the driver said he saw a man [Rafeek] pushing a bicycle on the same side of the road and as he was about to pass him he observed someone lying on the roadway. However, he was unable to avoid driving over the body.
Cholmondeley was subsequently picked up in an unconscious state and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Both Rafeek and the driver, who were both taken into custody, were recently released on bail.
Rafeek, in a recent interview with this newspaper, had denied pushing Cholmondeley into the path of the car. He had maintained his innocence and stated instead that he was nowhere near Cholmondeley when she was run over. “…His [the driver’s] statement is that I pushed her in front the vehicle. I was nowhere near to her when the accident occurred. I was away from her,” Rafeek said.
However, Cholmondeley’s relatives told this newspaper that they do not believe Rafeek’s account. It is their belief that Rafeek and Cholmondeley were engaged in a heated argument and that she was assaulted and ended up lying on the road.
Brian Bob, the teen’s uncle, had related that both Cholmondeley and Rafeek visited his Middle Dam, Bel Air home on Wednesday morning. He said they left for home about 9 pm after Cholmondeley got angry. Rafeek followed her after Bob said he insisted.
The couple decided to walk home since Rafeek had said that one of the wheels of his bicycle was “soft” and Cholmondeley refused to take a bus alone.
“I gone give yuh blood”
Stabroek News yesterday visited the section of the Turkeyen Railway Embankment Road where Cholmondeley was run over and the two witnesses both related similar accounts of what transpired on the night of her death.
Both of the women, who wished not to be named, told this newspaper that the couple were seen arguing as they headed east along the Railway Embankment road.
Cholmondeley, they said, was walking, while Rafeek was on a bicycle.
They said throughout the argument, Cholmondeley was heard telling Rafeek, “I gone give yuh blood.”
“…She pass here and she did telling the man ‘I gone give yuh blood’ and she going in front the… vehicles all the time,” one of the witnesses recalled.
The woman said she and other persons tried to calm Cholmondeley but she threatened that if they went close to her, she would jump in front of a vehicle.
As a result, the woman said she became fearful about intervening. “They was walking, like they was busing, you know. She was thinging and he telling she ‘Man, come along! Come along!’ We even go out deh fah talk to she, to tell she man relax and she was like, ‘If allyuh only come hay suh I gone jump in front the vehicle and put allyuh in problem,” the woman said.
She noted that Cholmondeley was not pushed into the path of the car that ran over her but rather lay on the road of her “own free will.”
“The man did not push that girl. She went off she own free will. Take off she shoes and when the vehicle coming, go in front the vehicle,” the woman further noted.
‘Escalated’
The woman believed that Cholmondeley’s actions were premeditated. “She know what she was going to do…. Other vehicle stop and telling her you know don’t do that, talking to her. One man seh he go fah slap she up but the husband turn and tell the man no. I hear that. He tell the man, ‘Don’t do that, don’t thing,’” the woman added.
Another eyewitness said she heard the couple arguing since they were in the vicinity of the Giftland Mall. “Since at Giftland side, people knocking on them bus and suh and tell she go in the corner and them thing but she didn’t go in,” she said.
She explained that the argument appeared to have escalated when Rafeek turned around and was heading back in the direction from where they had come.
It was at this point, the woman said, that Cholmondeley threw herself down in the middle of the road and was run over by the car.
“When he go up the road, she snatch he bicycle and like she start thinging with he and suh. So he decide fah come back this side… he ride away and she start running. After she ain’t see he stopping, she throw she self in the middle ah the road. He didn’t push her,” the woman also said.
“…She seh she want blood. After she seh she want blood… she throw she self down,” she added.
The woman said Rafeek even tried to get Cholmondeley to get up but she refused to listen. “…He talking to her and she ain’t want get up. So he decide to walk away,” the woman said.
