A family is now seeking answers about the death of a mother of three who succumbed following a collision at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo last Wednesday night.
Lovern Benn, 38, of La Parfaite Harmonie and formerly of Isseneru Village, Mazaruni, was one of two passengers in a car that collided with a minibus that reportedly swerved into the wrong lane.
According to Region Three Commander Simon McBean, Benn, who was the owner of the vehicle she was in at the time, was seated in the front passenger seat, while a male friend was driving. While Benn suffered head injuries, he escaped with minor injuries.
He was arrested on the day after the accident, when Benn succumbed and was later released on bail. The commander said that it could not be ascertained whether the driver was under the influence at the time of the accident as he was detained until the following day.
The police have been told that the collision occurred after the driver of the minibus swerved into the lane in which the car was proceeding.
According to one of the dead woman’s sisters, who asked not to be named, Benn lived with her two daughters, who are 15 and 16 years old, while she also has a 12-year-old son who resides with her estranged husband in the interior. She said she did not know what occurred until her nieces called her last Thursday morning to inform her of the accident and to let her know that the doctor treating their mother indicated that it was unlikely that she would survive due to the severity of the head injuries she suffered.
She also learnt from her nieces that Benn left their home minutes to three on Wednesday afternoon to meet a friend. Sometime after five that afternoon, Benn’s daughters texted her to find out when she would be returning since the 6 pm curfew was approaching. Benn replied and said that she would be home by 8 that night. The girls didn’t learn of their mother’s fate until minutes to three the following morning when two men showed up at their gate to take them to the hospital. Not knowing either of the men, Benn’s daughters declined their offer and told them they would go there themselves.
“When they (Benn’s daughters) went back to see her at visiting hours on Thursday, the doctor told them that she needed to do a CT scan but they were waiting to get some response from her first before they decide to go ahead with it. By seven o’clock they (the doctors) tell them that she wasn’t responding. She died minutes after 10 the morning,” Benn’s sister said.
The sister also contacted the man who was with Benn when the accident occurred. She said the man told her that they were hanging out in Tuschen and Benn was going to drop him off at his home at Ruby when the accident occurred. The dead woman’s sister said when she asked the man who was driving, he said it was her sister who was driving at the time of the accident. She said the man has not been forthcoming with all the information about what transpired on the night of the accident and further attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.
Benn’s sister shared two photos of her sister from the day she died. One of the photos she sent to Stabroek News was timestamped 15:51 hrs, on April 29th. The other photo, she said, was sent by Benn’s companion to another relative and it was taken in the night. In that photo, Benn appeared to be intoxicated. The woman said her nieces indicated that their mother doesn’t drink and drive and if she does drink, she always parks her car and takes a taxi home. “All I want is the truth about what happened. We’re all human beings and we have feelings. I’m just hoping and praying. All we want to know is the truth,” the dead woman’s sister lamented.
