A 12-year-old Corentyne child yesterday succumbed to his injuries after he was struck by a hire car along the Fyrish Village, Corentyne public road. Police are yet to file charges against the driver.
The child, O’mally Jonas, also known as “Mally”, drew his last breath in the Georgetown Public Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit yesterday morning. Jonas, who has eight siblings, recently wrote the National Grade Six Examination and secured a spot at the Port Mourant Secondary School.
His father, Lester Jonas, 41, of Lot 529 Courtland Village, Corentyne, explained that on July 5 his son left home just after 8 am to go to purchase chicken from a chicken outlet located on the public road when he was struck. “I was in the backdam and I get a message that he get hit down on the road and he gone Port Mourant Hospital,” he related.
Jonas, in an unconscious state, was then transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital and then to Georgetown Public Hospital, due to the severity of his injuries. His father said the young lad sustained a fractured skull, broken shoulder bone and legs. “He was unconscious since he get hit down to this morning he never recovered,” his father, who could not fight back tears said.
The father stated, “The driver claiming that the child did crossing and he hit the child in the middle of the road to the corner of the road”. However, the grieving man relayed that an eyewitnesses has provided a statement claiming that the child was riding his bicycle in the corner of the road “behind the two white lines” when he was allegedly struck by the oncoming car.
It is further suspected that the driver was proceeding at a fast rate when the accident occurred since after the impact, the child pitched in one direction, while one wheel from his bicycle pitched into a resident’s yard along the road. “He (driver) saying them (he and the child) did going opposite direction but the eyewitness say he hit the child about eight inches in the white line and both of them did going in one direction,” he stated.
The father is calling for justice to be served, noting that he does not want any sort of compensation. “The police did just keep finding out the condition of the child. They say them got the driver side and them did want the child side,” he explained.
Stabroek News was told that the driver of the car is presently out on station bail. “It is a great loss, I want justice. If the law say well he wrong and he go get a day jail, one year jail, ten year jail, I would satisfied but in terms of compensation, I ain’t want that because for me is a child is not an animal,” the emotional father stated.
