The driver of the truck that crushed seven-year-old Ciarra Benjamin to death on Saturday on the Agricola Public Road, has been released on station bail pending further investigations into the accident.
Commander of ‘A’ Division Marlon Chapman, informed Stabroek News that the 72-hours detention period for the driver, Danion Leary Welcome had expired, and as such, he was expected to be released on station bail late yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile, attorney James Bond, who is representing Welcome, related to this newspaper that his client’s condition has deteriorated and he will be seeking further medical attention following his release.
Welcome is said to be nursing a fractured skull and severe injuries to his arm, back and neck, which were reportedly inflicted by vigilantes.
“…His (Welcome’s) condition, his physical condition has somewhat deteriorated. His wounds have become infected,” Bond said.
Benjamin, a Grade One student of the Canadian School of Arts and Science, died immediately after she was struck by the truck around 4 pm.
Following Benjamin’s death, some residents of the area launched an attack on the truck driver and the vehicle was later set on fire.
Following the attack, Commissioner of Police Leslie James has urged citizens to refrain from vigilante acts.
James, during a press conference at his office on Monday, told reporters that an incendiary device is suspected to have been hurled into the cabin of the truck after the accident.
He said that all aspects of the case— that is the accident resulting in the death of Benjamin, the assault of the driver and the alleged arson of the truck— are being investigated.
At the end of the investigation, James noted that those found culpable will be brought before the courts and charged.
“…It was someone I am told that hurled an incendiary device which entered, I think, into the cabin of the truck and the truck cabin was engulfed in flames and then of course you had this whole fire. The conflagration that followed was as a result of gasoline, the tank being exploded and things like that,” James had explained.
Traffic Chief Linden Isles told a press conference hosted by Police Commissioner Leslie James on Monday afternoon, that the police are still trying to determine how the accident occurred.
Isles had said that there are no eyewitness statements.
Benjamin, this newspaper had reported, was attempting to cross the public road in the company of her aunt and babysitter, Simone Barry, when she was struck by the truck, which bore licence plate GWW 962.
According to some bystanders, the pair were standing on the median when the truck, which was travelling at a fast rate along the western carriageway of the road, swerved to avoid a car and hit Benjamin.
Others, however, suggested that the child had stepped onto the road but quickly ran back to the median after she saw the truck.
However, a man who said he was an eyewitness, who wished not to be named, yesterday told Stabroek News that Welcome was speeding and attempted to swerve from a car, resulting in the accident.
“He (Welcome) pull from a car. He did speeding,” the man said.
He said that Benjamin and Barry were “bracing” on an electrical pole by the median of the road when the accident unfolded. However, due to fright, the eyewitness stated, Barry released Benjamin’s hands.
“…The girl (Benjamin) and the aunty (Barry) did stand up bracing the post in the middle ah the road. They did stand up deh waiting fah cross. But the speed wah he coming with now, he couldn’t find brakes fah run up, fah stop from running up under the car bonnet, so he end up turn into the walling (median) and dah is how he run up pun the wall, top them. Lash the lil girl in the corner but the aunty end up loosing the girl hand and run from the fright nah, dah is how the lil girl end up left in the middle deh,” the eyewitness further explained.
“The lil girl (Benjamin) aint even get fah move from weh she went budday…he (Welcome) end up squeezing the lil girl right deh,” he added.
