Rawle McKenzie and his wife Sarah Wilson, who died following a crash on Monday last, close to the Ruimveldt Police Station, had been heading to the market at the time of the incident.
Marshelle McKenzie, the daughter of the couple, told Stabroek News that her mother and father were going to buy vegetables to sell at Grove, East Bank Demerara. Rawle McKenzie was a farmer while Wilson was a vendor. Their daughter explained that her father would usually leave home at approximately 5 am to go to the market for fresh vegetables for her mother to sell.
“My father would usually go to the market alone, but on Monday for some strange reason mommy go with him and that’s what happen,” Marshelle McKenzie said.
The couple, who had been married for two years, raised five children.
According to Marshelle McKenzie, at approximately 6 am she woke up to several missed calls. Upon returning a call she was informed that her mother had died and her father was hospitalised in a critical condition. They rushed to the hospital and found their father’s condition had worsened; his leg was amputated and he was unable to breathe independently.
“We still had little hope that he will live because to lose both of them at one time it’s hard. Half hour after, we big sister come home from the hospital and she telling we what happen before she left, the neighbour start shouting for we saying how we father dead. That break we, they were so loving,” she related.
According to the police report, motorcar, PAD 2018, was being driven by 29-year-old Pream Seecharran of Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, while minibus BHH 8451 was being driven by 54-year-old McKenzie of Samatta Point, Grove, East Bank Demerara, along with occupants Wilson of Samatta Point, Grove; 31-year-old Javon Bowen of Samatta Point; 58-year-old Lennox Clementson of Guyhoc Gardens; and 56-year-old Jones McKenzie of Grove Housing Scheme.
Preliminary investigations revealed that motorcar PAD 2018 was proceeding south on the eastern lane of the Ruimveldt Public Road, allegedly at a fast rate. While in the vicinity of Top Point Store, the driver of the car was negotiating a slight bend when its front left side came into contact with a pile of sand and it collided with the bridge. This caused the car to flip several times on the western carriageway, where it collided with the front portion of the minibus which was proceeding north.
Several other people involved in the crash were hospitalised.
