A 58-year-old Golden Grove resident was killed late Sunday night on the Nabaclis Public Road by an alleged drunk and speeding driver.
Dead is Patrick Lester of Lot 19 Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara.
When Stabroek News visited the area yesterday villagers were still in shock that the man had passed saying that it was only Saturday evening that his team had won a dominoes tournament. He lived at his nephew’s home at a popular business establishment, Lester’s Internet Café and Grocery Shop, located on the Public Road at Golden Grove.
“He was standing on the road there and the car came and lash into another one parked on the road then into him and his bicycle and dragged him into that yard where it crashed,” one of the man’s friends Michael Abrams related to Stabroek News. He said the driver of the car then attempted to escape on foot but was caught by the police who were passing the area at the same time. He was then taken into custody saving him from a beating by the angry residents who assembled on hearing the impact.
Lester was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was admitted and later succumbed. Residents said that from the nature of his injuries they had little hope that he would survive as when the car struck him it dragged him some 30 to 40 metres, east, and crashed through a fence then slammed into a tree.
In a statement police said, “The driver of the motor car, who was above the legal limit in respect of the consumption of alcohol, lost control of the vehicle and struck a parked motor car and then struck the pedal cyclist who was standing on the roadway with his bicycle.”
The man’s aunt, with whom he once lived at Ann’s Grove, also on the ECD, said that he had many children. He stayed at his nephew’s business where he also helped out.
An autopsy is expected to be performed on his body today to ascertain his actual cause of death.
Police investigations are continuing while the driver remains in their custody.
