A police inspector attached to the Leonora Police Station succumbed from injuries she sustained in an accident while returning home from the flag-raising ceremony on May 26 that had also claimed the life of another woman.
Joycelyn ‘Tessa’ Elcock, 54 of Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara was laid to rest last week with full military honours. The post-mortem results showed that she died from a fractured skull.
The minibus she was travelling in had collided with another minibus close to the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DBH) around 2:15 am on May 27.
The other passenger, Roxanne Mitchell, 44, of Farm, East Bank Essequi-bo was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre (DDC).
Elcock was also among the other injured persons who were rushed to the DDC and transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC).
She was reportedly treated for injuries she received to her hip. She was discharged the following day and proceeded on sick leave.
Her mother, Judith Elcock, with whom she resided alone, told Stabroek News that her daughter was given a date to return to the GPHC for a “check-up” during last week.
“She collapsed as soon as she reached the hospital and she took in for the worse,” the woman told this newspaper. “They put her on a wheelchair but she died before the doctor could attend to her.”
According to her mother, Elcock did not complain of feeling unwell when she left home and she was surprised to hear she had died. She felt her daughter must have suffered internal injuries or bleeding to her head.
She recalled that just after the accident, Elcock’s daughter, Camille had asked the doctor to perform a complete test, including a head scan on her mother to ensure she was ok before leaving the hospital.
The doctor had responded, however, that “she’s talking so she don’t need that.” She had spent a week at Camille’s house before returning home.
Roxanne’s husband, Peter had told SN, “All I remembered seeing is a Route 42 minibus coming with a speed and I said, ‘Oh God, this is an accident’! And I held onto my seat.”
Roxanne, his wife of 22 years, was seated next to him at the window side and the top half of her body was flung out. The bus ended up flipping on its side on impact and Mitchell was pinned underneath.
Peter said he instinctively climbed out of the bus from the other side and tried to lift it up to free her but could not manage and some other men came to his assistance. He said sadly that Roxanne was not moving.
