A Sophia mother of five died on Wednesday night from injuries she suffered when the motorcycle she was on reportedly collided with a pile of mud on the Cummings Lodge Access Road.
Janice Edwards, 38, of Lot 121 ‘C’ Field, Sophia, who was the pillion rider, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital after being picked up from the roadway by a passerby, according to a police statement.
Her husband, who was reportedly blinded by the lights of an oncoming vehicle while riding the motorcycle, fled the scene after the collision, but was brought into custody yesterday morning. He is now assisting with the investigation.
Edwards was said to have had suffered multiple injuries about the body.
Police reported that according to Edwards’ reputed husband, whose name was learnt to be King Jared, he had been riding the motorcycle, CJ 1830, north along the access road with his wife seated behind him. However, he said the light of an oncoming vehicle blinded him temporarily, causing him to swerve west and then collide with a pile of mud.
Anne Garnett, Jared’s mother, relating the information she received on the accident, described the event as a “hit and run.”
She told Stabroek News that the couple left the house around 7 pm, saying they were going out. About an hour later, she recalled, she was visited by persons who told her that a car had hit her son and daughter-in-law from behind. She speculated that when the car “braced” them, her son must not have seen the pile of mud, and expressed concerns that the mounds were placed there without any indicators to notify road users of their presence.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the stretch of road where the accident occurred is void of streetlights.
The mud pile is just one of several mounds of debris that has occupied the western arm of the roadway for the past few weeks. That section of the road has also become significantly depressed over the past months and, as a mitigating measure, was filled in using rocks.
A representative of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure related to this newspaper yesterday that the mounds of soil are from drainage and rehabilitation roadworks which began last month. It was explained that following complaints about the state of the road, works were initiated to remedy the situation and, as a result, the drains in the bordering trench were cleared as the primary cause of the sinking in the roadway was found to be poor drainage.
The representative also indicated that the ministry has launched a programme to remove debris from the roadways, and that action to remove the mud along the Cummings Lodge Access Road could begin as early as today.
Garnett said that Edwards was like a daughter to her and described her as a very hard worker. She and Jared were said to have been living together for nine years and they share twins, who are five-years-old.
