An inquest has been ordered into the death of 15-year-old Karamchand Khemraj, who was killed in a hit-and-run involving a white Toyota ‘Pitbull’ minibus on the Annandale, East Coast Demerara (ECD) public road in December last year.
This was confirmed by Traffic Chief Linden Isles who informed Stabroek News that a file in respect of the matter was dispatched to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice. It was later returned with the recommendation that an inquest be held.
The inquest, Isles said, will determine who was responsible for Khemraj’s death.
“Because there is no eyewitness to say who was the driver. We know who is the owner [of the bus] and the owner is the person who would have fled. So we never got the owner and nobody never identify who was the driver. So coming out from the DPP office, it was recommended that an inquest be held,” Isles explained.
The incident, which occurred on December 9 last year, claimed the life of 15-year-old Khemraj, called ‘Ajay,’ a horse cart operator of Lot 44 Annandale West, ECD. He was on a bicycle at the time.
His friend, Reaz Shaw, a trainee mechanic of Lot 35 Annandale West, was critically injured. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital and was subsequently moved to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) prior to his discharge in early January.
Following his discharge, Shaw was cared for by his parents. He could not move, speak, or eat on his own and was being fed through a tube.
Doctors had declared that he would need extensive physiotherapy sessions in order for him to recover.
However, following six physiotherapy sessions at the Palms, the teen showed significant improvement. He can now walk, communicates with his relatives and eats on his own.
At the time of the incident, the police said that the teenagers rode out of a northern access road onto the public road, when a white Toyota ‘Pitbull’ minibus, which was proceeding east along the northern carriageway of the said road, collided with the bicycle.
As a result, both teens fell on the roadway and sustained head injuries. The bus did not stop.
A few days later, a minibus, which was suspected to be the vehicle involved, was impounded after it was found covered in a yard at Mon Repos, ECD.
A woman who lived on the premises was taken into custody, and she provided the police with the identification and address of a man suspected to be the driver.
However, the man, who is said to be a Chinese businessman of Vigilance, ECD, is yet to be apprehended. It is suspected that he fled to neighbouring Suriname.
The incident was recorded by nearby surveillance cameras, which showed that the teens were struck from behind.
Attorney James Bond, who is representing the Chinese Association of Guyana, had approached the families with an offer of cash but the money was refused.
Bond had previously told this newspaper that the money was not being offered to settle the matter but rather out of remorse. This, he had also said, would not interfere with the usual investigation of the matter.
While the parents of both teens had previously hinted at accepting compensation and settling the matter, they have not yet done so.
