Hit-and-run survivor Cedric Clement said yesterday he was still undecided about agreeing to a settlement with the driver of the vehicle who caused the death of his daughter Althea Clement and left him nursing injuries in hospital.
When 50-year-old Clement was visited at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on Saturday, he had related that he and the relatives of the driver of the car had decided to settle the matter. However, when Stabroek News visited him yesterday Clement said he was asked by the man’s relatives to accept some money and settle the matter, but he had told them that he could “make no decision in this state wah me deh in”. He said the driver’s father had offered him $100,000 to help with funeral expenses for his daughter, and that was what he signed for. The driver, according to Clement, had been arrested and charged by the police and subsequently placed on $500,000 bail.
The employee of Ezekiel’s Funeral Parlour was scheduled to be released from the GPH yesterday, but was unable to do so as he had to return to the operating theatre today to change his leg cast. Sitting in a wheelchair beside his bed, he told this newspaper that he would not be able to leave the hospital in time for his 7-year-old’s funeral, which is set for today, but proceedings must go on. “Nine days pon de earth is long enough time. She got to bury,” the man said with resignation in his voice.
As a way of comfort, Clement said that he has ordered some photos taken at different intervals of the funeral, so that he will at least see what went on and be able to view his daughter for one final time.
