Anaynasa Thorne, the young woman who survived the New Year’s morning accident that claimed the life of an elderly man and left another hospitalised in a serious condition, says the driver responsible was speeding at the time.
Thorne, 18, said she suffered several scratches about her body as a result of the accident, in which a car ploughed into the stall where she was standing along the eastern carriageway of Cemetery Road.
Also with her at the time were the now dead 61-year-old George Baker and the injured Brian Devine, 62.
An upset Thorne recalled that she was filling in for someone at the newspaper stall when the delivery vehicle pulled up to offload the papers. She also pointed out that the driver jumped out of the vehicle as it was about to collide with them, while Baker, the only fatality, was hesitant to run. She suggested that his hesitation contributed to his demise.
“I was taking out the papers out of the car and I look up and I see the car coming fast. …I didn’t take it for nothing. I continue doing me thing. Then, I hear de big man [Devine] say, “Is weh the jackass going with all this speed?” And when I look up I see the car swerve two times and I holler, “Run!” And I see Baker looking for a direction to run and de driver jump out of the car. Next thing I know, I end up in the trench,” Thorne recounted.
The police, in a statement on the accident, reported that the driver of the car, which had licence plate PNN 7977, lost control of the vehicle after it sustained a punctured tyre. He is in police custody.
Devine is still a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation nursing broken legs, broken ribs, a broken hip, a fractured neck, head injuries and a damaged eye. He is expected to undergo surgery today.
