Ovid Garraway, who was piloting one of two boats in the Pomeroon which crashed River in December 2010 resulting in the death of 13-year-old Jason Abrams, testified on Wednesday that the second boat had been speeding.
The pilot of that boat, Glenford Mentore, is currently on trial before Justice Franklin Holder and a 12-member jury.
Giving evidence in the High Court at Suddie, Essequibo Coast, Garraway said that on December 19, 2010, he was transporting the now dead boy and another person, who were on their way to a shop on the other bank of the river. He added that the boat he was driving was closer to the left bank of the river, when he observed a boat headed directly toward them, travelling with excessive speed. Garraway told the court that he had stood in the boat and waved his hand and shouted “Aye!” so as to signal the captain of the other boat to slow down.
Nevertheless, Garraway recalled, the boat collided with his and he and the two other occupants were thrown into the river. He said that he looked around in the water to see if everyone was safe but could not locate Abrams.
According to him, it was after they were thrown into the water that he recognised that Mentore was the man who was piloting the other boat that caused the collision.
Garraway stated that after making several other checks for the missing boy, they were rescued and taken to his residence by a man in another boat.
Abrams’s body was recovered days later at the Pomeroon River Mouth.
The trial is continuing.
