Lindie Sharpe, husband of the May 22nd Amelia’s Ward accident victim, Enid Sharpe said that he got no assistance from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) for the burial of his wife and was told that the matter is in the hands of the police.
The accident on the Linden Highway at Amelia’s Ward in which an army vehicle hit down a woman on a motorcycle, killing her on the spot, had sparked grief and anger among onlookers. The soldiers subsequently discharged rounds at the accident scene, supposedly to effect crowd control, and people scrambled for cover.
Eyewitnesses said it was around 7.30 am that 38-year-old Enid Sharpe met her tragic end when the speeding Guyana Defence Force 4×4 DFB 1469 slammed her off her motorcycle.
Four soldiers, who were travelling in the open back of the pick-up, were flung out on impact and two of them were seriously injured and subsequently air-dashed to the Georgetown Public Hospital. However, one was treated and sent away while the other was admitted to the High Depen-dency Unit of the Georgetown Hospital.
The army said that it had launched an inquiry into the incident. Meanwhile, the police said that the driver had been taken into police custody and was assisting with investigations.
However the still grieving husband of the accident victim said that he was visited by ranks of the Police E&F Division Traffic Department a few days after the funeral of his wife. He said that the ranks sympathized with his family but said that an investigation was being conducted and the report would then be sent to Georgetown to go through the usual procedures.
“Well I take his word for that because I know things gat to go through the channels but the army didn’t even call or visit my family to even sympathize with us.”
According to the national body builder, he visited Camp Ayanganna where he had dialogue with a female rank attached to the public relations unit. “I spoke to her about compensation or even assistance with the funeral expenses and she told me that they can’t do that and that the matter is in the hands of the police.”
Sharpe said that he had hope for some form of assistance when he was told by international body builder Hugh Ross who was in Guyana at the time, that he had learnt from high up in the army that some form of assistance would have been given to him.
“Hugh Ross is my personal friend and he told me this but he had to leave the following day and so there was no follow-up.”
“It is a sad thing if I didn’t go to the GDF I would have never heard a word from them and it was as if they still didn’t say anything to me because since I visited… nothing, not a word,” he lamented.
Sharpe said that he is unaware of the status of the rank who was responsible for his wife’s death. “I don’t know a thing about him; if dey lock he up, if he on station bail, I don’t know – nobody is telling me anything.”
The accident occurred when the officers were said to be returning from mounting a roadblock at Bamia along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
