The mother of Ramkarran Mohan, the four-year-old who died after being hit by a car driven by the daughter of a senior rank of the Guyana Police Force more than two years ago, is still demanding justice for her son.
“I still calling for justice… I need justice. Any police yuh guh tuh yuh don’t get no justice because they always getting order from the bigger ones. This family don’t get justice by none station or no police since baby story,” Anna Persaud told Sunday Stabroek in a recent interview. Mohan, of 1008 Tuschen Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo and a pupil of the Tuschen Nursery School, died on March 14th, 2017, hours after he was struck down by a car on the Tuschen Housing Scheme Main Road.
This newspaper had previously reported that Mohan and his older brother had accompanied an uncle to a shop in order to purchase a ball to play cricket and they were returning home when the accident occurred.
His grandmother, Bibi Khan, had told this newspaper, “My son had hold on to his hands. They were coming back from the shop right next to us, but the car come and hooked him out and he fell, and the car drive over he and stopped a good distance away.”
Mohan was picked up by the driver and taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital. He was later transferred to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where he succumbed the same afternoon. A post-mortem examination revealed that he had sustained a fractured skull and internal injuries.
The driver, identified as the daughter of Crime Chief Lyndon Alves, was taken into custody and was reportedly later released on $20,000 station bail.
Alves is currently on administrative leave pending an internal investigation into corruption allegations in ‘B’ Division (Berbice).
One month after Mohan’s death, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had advised that a Coroner’s Inquest be conducted.
This newspaper was told that the advice was given based on the conflicting evidence, subsequent to a review of the case file.
Persaud said her family has been “pushed around” by the police every time they attempt to enquire about the matter.
She explained that on several occasions, her mother went to the Leonora and Vreed-en-Hoop police stations and was referred from one station to another.
“…As she guh, them keep telling she check this station, check dah station… Every time I go find out about the case, they keep telling that how a coroner gah look into the matter and the file ain’t come up as yet,” the distressed mother said.
About two Wednesdays ago, Persaud said she visited Police Commissioner Leslie James’s office and he promised to look into the matter before the end of the year.
“…Me and meh muddah went and he [James] told us that he did not start looking into the matter as yet but soon, later on in the year he will start looking into it but I don’t know which year is dah,” Persaud noted.
She said while she fears that the driver will never be charged, the family will not give up until justice is served. “…This too much. Eye pass teking this family right… So, I really need justice fah me family,” she said.
Persaud said on the same night of the accident, the driver was seen free.
“…I know fah sure that she did not sleep no night in the lock-up because where she living is right on the main road and she got to pass we to go where she live and I see her the very same night (of the accident),” Persaud said.
Efforts made by this newspaper to contact the police on the status of the matter proved futile.
