A pensioner was yesterday morning killed and a toddler left nursing minor injuries after the pedal cycle they were on, was hit by a vehicle driven by a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Lance Corporal.
Dead is Harry Persaud, 65, of Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara (EBD) while a one-year-old girl whose name this newspaper was unable to ascertain, is a patient of the Georgetown Public Hospital. The GDF corporal, who is stationed at the army’s farm located at Garden of Eden, EBD is in police custody assisting with the investigation.
The incident occurred on the public road at Soesdyke in the vicinity of the Rubis Gas Station around 10.30 am.
According to the information reaching Sunday Stabroek, Persaud who was towing the child on a pedal cycle was proceeding south along the eastern side of the roadway while a pickup bearing licence plate number DFB 1566 was proceeding behind.
This newspaper was told by a police official that the GDF rank claimed that Persaud swerved west across the road and in trying to avoid him he swung in the same direction, resulting in the left front side of his vehicle colliding with the pedal cycle.
Persaud and the child were picked up and rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, where he was pronounced dead on arrival while the child was given treatment before being transferred to Georgetown.
Persaud’s body was later transported to the Lyken’s Funeral Home.
The GDF in a statement said that a Board of Inquiry has been commissioned to investigate the circumstances surrounding the accident. The information provided by the police differed slightly from that given by the GDF.
The GDF’s statement referred to the deceased as a pedestrian. It stated that “ranks” were assisting the police with their investigation.
