An 18-year-old office assistant attached to the Office of the Prime Minister died yesterday morning after the car he was in crashed into the side of a trench at La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
Dead is Chad Terrence, of Lot 31, Goed Intent and Canal Number One, both villages on the WBD.
According to the police, around 2:15 am yesterday, Terrence was in the company of three other men in motor car HB 6244 which was being driven by Theophilus Benjamin when the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a canal.
The men sustained injuries and were taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) where Terrence was pronounced dead on arrival by medical staff.
Benjamin, 29, was admitted a patient. One of the young men, 20-year-old Kevin Jones has since been transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he is receiving treatment for his injuries.
One of the occupants of the car told this newspaper that the group hired the car to take them to Vreed-en-Hoop to a function in that area. He said that the car was approaching a turn at La Grange, opposite a Guyana Telephone and Telegraph antenna when the driver lost control of the vehicle and headed for the canal. He said that was all he remembered until he regained consciousness at the hospital.
He noted that Terrence was seated behind the driver at the time and according to persons at the scene, a plank which was part of a wooden bridge in front of a nearby home was uprooted and the young man was hit to the head.
The occupant, who sustained mainly shoulder injuries, noted that a man on a bicycle rode in front of the car’s path and according to him, the driver attempted to avoid hitting the man and drove into the canal.
Terrence‘s mother Yvette Moore related that around 8 pm on Saturday, her son awakened her and told her that he was going to the National Exhibition Site at Sophia for GuyExpo.
The policewoman said that she later left home for work and according to her, it was while she was on duty around 3:15 am that her niece called her and related that her son was involved in an accident.
She said, ”when I go to the hospital they ain’t telling me nothing all I hearing the doctor working on him”. Lost for words, the teary eyed woman said her sister held her hands and took her to the hospital theatre where she saw her son’s lifeless body lying on a bed with two wounds to his head.
She said that she heard various accounts provided by persons on the scene about how the accident occurred but the woman believes that the driver was speeding at the time based on reports received. She said that Chad is one of her two children; his older brother was inconsolable.
According to reports, Jones sustained injuries to his face, arms and lower torso.
Benjamin was subsequently taken into police custody at the La Grange Police Station.
