Two men died and another was seriously injured after the car they were in crashed along the Timehri Public Road on Saturday night. The friends were returning from a barbeque at Soesdyke.
The deceased men have been identified as the driver of the car, 24-year-old Pascal Dainty of Lot 1841 Unity Place, Festival City, North Ruimveldt and 32-year-old Delon Whitehead of Lot 187 B Field, Sophia and Lot 41 William Street, Kitty. The injured man has been identified as 25-year-old Michael Kendall of Block X, Great Diamond, East Bank Demerara.
According to a police report, at about 8:30 pm on Saturday, the car registered as number PXX 5192 was proceeding north along the western side of the Timehri Public Road at a fast rate when the driver lost control of it. As a result the car ran off the road, colliding with two lamp posts situated on the western side of the road before turning turtle several times and coming to a stop on the western parapet on a concrete fence.
The occupants of the car were picked up by the police and citizens and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where Whitehead and Dainty were pronounced dead on arrival. Kendall was admitted a patient in the Intensive Care Unit at the GPH where his condition has been listed as serious.
Shirley Dainty, mother of the driver said her son had celebrated his 24th birthday just last Thursday. She last saw her son about two o’clock on Saturday when he was heading out. Pascal, she said, was an aviation agent employed at the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport, Timehri. The woman said that she was headed up the highway accompanied by a cousin and prior to her leaving, Pascal had informed her that he would be going to a barbeque hosted by a colleague. Dainty said when she returned home on Saturday she learnt that he had just left for the barbeque.
Dainty said she received a call about 9.30 pm from a cousin who was at the scene informing her about the accident. She said her son seemed to have suffered injuries in the area he would have had a surgery for appendicitis sometime back. Pascal’s fiancé, Candica Abel also recalled seeing blood at the back of his head following the accident.
“He loves to push the ends of my pillows in when he comes downstairs and always rowing about it…” Dainty reminisced of times with her late son. Pascal was the youngest of six.
When Stabroek News visited with the family of Whitehead, the mother of the deceased, Michelle Williams was trying to operate her business at the seawall as usual. She was surrounded by family and friends of Whitehead who recounted the events leading up to the accident.
Whitehead’s grandmother, Gloria and aunt, Oslyn Whitehead lamented the man’s death and shared that when Whitehead was still a baby, he had moved to live with his aunt and grandmother in Sophia where he grew up.
Oslyn said that prior to his leaving on Saturday, the deceased had asked her for his toothbrush. It would be the last time she spoke to him. She said that the reason her nephew had gone to the barbeque was because a young woman he was involved with was there. Oslyn noted the couple once lived together but after some problems, he had moved back to live with her a month ago.
Monica, a close friend of the deceased who was also present wailed as she said she last spoke to Whitehead at 6:20 pm when he told her that he was on his way to the barbeque. The young woman said she pleaded with him not to go as she knew the woman he was involved with would be there as well as someone else the woman was seeing. She said Whitehead told her that she shouldn’t worry as everything was going to be alright.
The family alleges that Whitehead was carrying a backpack on Saturday morning when he left along with several documents including his identification card, $30,000 in cash and his phone, none of which were found following the accident.
The family of the deceased added that Whitehead who had converted to Islam said he was fasting and had no intentions of drinking alcohol. They described him as a peaceful young man who steered clear of confrontations. Whitehead who was at one time employed at the CJIA was working at Gafoor’s at the time of his death.
As it relates to Kendall, Commander Mahendra Siwnarine, responsible for regional division, 4B noted that the man’s condition remains the same. Speaking to the allegations made by Whitehead’s family of the trio involved in the accident being chased by another vehicle, Siwnarine said they are unaware of anything of the sort at this point in time.
