A Bourda Market butcher died after he was struck down by a drunken driver on Saturday as he was walking home on the Pouderoyen Public Road.
Bhagwandat Roopchand also known as ‘Preacher’, 60, of 13 Bella Dam, West Bank Demerara, and a Butcher of Robin’s Butchery, succumbed to his injuries on Saturday night at the West Demerara Regional Hospital after he was hit by a driver who was tested by the Police to be above the legal alcohol limit.
According to a statement by the Guyana Police Force on the accident which occurred around 7 pm, motor car PTT 8019 was proceeding north along the western side of the Pouderoyen Public Road, West Bank Demerara, when it hit Roopchand who was crossing from East to West.
The statement went on to say that the pedestrian was picked up in an unconscious condition and was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.
When Stabroek News visited the home of Roopchand yesterday, family members and friends were gathered to pay their respects to the window and her children. Vishal [only name given], the nephew of the deceased told this newspaper that he was in a car coming back from Vreed-en-Hoop when he heard the impact of the accident.
“My car was at Pouderoyen, when I hear like an impact, around by the pedestrian crossing side, we car stop and I run out to see is what happen and to see if I can render assistance to people who needed it” the nephew said. “I see a man lay down face down on the road on the pedestrian crossing and when we turn he over, is then I realize was my uncle, all I do is put he in a car and rush he to the hospital”, the nephew said. Vishal told Stabroek News that he called his aunt to inform her of the accident, and about 15 minutes after her arrival his uncle died.
Relatives described Roopchand as a quiet and pleasant individual, while adding that he was the sole breadwinner for his family.
His daughter said that her father would have been celebrating his 61st birthday today and there is a great deal of sadness for her and her family. Roopchand, who had been a butcher for several years in the Bourda Market leaves to mourn his wife and two children.
