“This same time last year, we were planning a wedding and now we have to be planning a funeral” were the words of Diana Powell who lost her son-in-law in Wednesday (January 04, 2017) evening’s accident.
Powell of Self-Help Housing Scheme, Amelia’s Ward, Linden spoke with the News Room on Thursday (January 05, 2017). She lost her son-in-law, 23-year-old Dexroy Griffith while her daughter, Whitney Griffith is hospitalised.
She told News Room that the young couple was preparing to celebrate their first anniversary on Sunday, January, 16, 2017.
“Next Sunday, the 16th of January they (were) going to be celebrating their first anniversary. The Saturday is her birthday and the Sunday is their anniversary. It is an African wedding that they had a year ago. Actually is this same time last year, we were planning a wedding and now we have to be planning a funeral so that’s really devastating for us” Whitney’s mother said.
She added that her daughter “is not coming to grips that he is dead, she is doing a set of plans and them thing. We still have her one-year cake in the fridge that we were planning to stick on Sunday and have a little ceremony or whatever. So that’s pretty heart-rending right now. His mother is also not accepting the death and they say she is still waiting on her son.”
Dexroy is the father of two children, ages two and five while his wife is currently five months pregnant.
She has suffered a broken arm, injuries to her head and right side, however; the unborn baby suffered no known injury.
They were both occupants of motor vehicle; HC 5326 driven by 54-year-old Dave Primus who also died as a result of the accident along with his great-nephew Louran Mendonca. While Mendonca did not die upon impact, he succumbed to his injuries art around 2:00 am on Thursday, January 05, 2017.
News Room was told that Mendonca was visiting from St. Lucia to fix certain source documents before heading back home.
Rachael Pearson Primus, the wife of Dave Primus was told News Room that everyone is uncontrollable at this moment. She told News Room that “everyone is just crying.”
The fourth victim of the accident was the driver of motorcar PRR 7151, 38-year-old Rawle Aaron from the Community of Grove on the East bank Demerara.
News Room spoke with Vibert Aaron, the uncle-in-law of Rawle Aaron who recounted what he was told and read in the news. Another relative indicated that Aaron after seeing the car hire car heading into his path, decided to stop and allow him to overtake but that failed to assist the situation as the long trailers which were travelling behind each other occupied a significant amount of the width of the highway.
From all indications, the driver of the hire car HC5326, Dave Primus is being faulted for the crash.
On Thursday Traffic Chief Dion Moore spoke with the News Room after visiting the families of the victims.
He said “Having examined the physical evidence on the scene, you would’ve noticed that there are debris coupled with blood stain on the western side of the road which clearly suggests that there were some sort of overtaking on the part of the hire car driver who was proceeding south. If it is a fact that he did not overtake, then the collision will be on the Eastern side. With the collision occurring on the western side, it clearly indicates he is at fault.”
He added that the Force has its patrol capabilities with the introduction of a car to “man” the highway to ensure that no vehicle is left unattended on the road to prevent accidents
Highlighting that there are always multiple deaths whenever an accident occurs on the highway, the officer is urging the travelling public to desist from speeding. He noted that the speed limit is 100km/h and persons should drive within that speed limit.
He reminded that due to the head lights on vehicles, it is always difficult to accurately judge the speed and distance of an oncoming vehicle at nights and therefore persons should avoid overtaking as well.
Post-mortems which were conducted on the dead found that all with the exception of Griffith died as a result of multiple injuries to their bodies. Dexroy Griffith died as a result of a fractured skull.
