A truck collided with a car on Mandela Avenue on Sunday night, killing taxi-driver Quincy Kellman and leaving his eight-year-old daughter an orphan.
Kellman, 34, of Lot 111 Plantation Belfield, East Coast Demerara, was believed to have died instantly in the collision.
Reports are that the accident occurred around 11 pm, as Kellman was driving HB 5983 west along Mandela Avenue, in the vicinity of Guytrac.
The Oasis Ride Taxi Service driver was going to make a “phone contact” pick-up. At the time, Charles Jagan, the driver of GJJ 4896, who was travelling east along the road, overtook a parked 4X4, lost control of his vehicle and reportedly drove head on into Kellman’s car.
Police said last evening that Kellman was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital. The driver of the truck, meanwhile, is in custody assisting police with the investigation.
Kellman’s death visits another tragedy on his family, as it leaves his young daughter, Fiona, without her only surviving parent. Her mother was killed a few years ago after she was caught in the crossfire during a shootout while attending a performance at the Suarez Bros Circus, during its tour to Guyana.
Kellman and his daughter were very close. In February, for Valentine’s Day, she wrote him a letter, telling him how much she loved him and missed him. “I love you like I love God. You are my everything. You are my mother, my father, and my sister and my brother too,” she wrote. She noted in the letter that he worked hard and did not always have the time to see her, but she was grateful for everything he did for her. “You drop me to school and that is very hard work to do….”
Kellman is survived by five brothers, and five sisters. Among them is his twin brother, Calvin, who described him as the “sweetest man you could ever come across. I coulnta ask for a better brother. He was kind to everyone, free handed [and] always there for his daughter.”
Calvin explained that on Sunday night, his brother, who was off duty at the time, decided to take his [Calvin’s] wife and daughter and Fiona to a new place which had opened.
There, he allowed his daughter, niece, and sister-in-law to spend $10,000 in “fun” items. Calvin said that although he did not see his brother that night, he spoke to him around 7 pm and he was in “good spirits.”
Meanwhile, Calvin said that when he visited the police station, Jagan, a resident of Jonestown, Mahaica, turned his back on Kellman’s family as though he had “no time to show remorse…he didn’t even apologise. Sorry can’t bring back my brother, but just for courtesy’s sake he coulda at least say sorry or was an accident or something.”
A post-mortem examination of Kellman’s body is scheduled to be conducted tomorrow.
