Dead: Jaipaul Deochand
By Bibi Khatoon
A Champagne, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (E.C.D.) family is calling for justice for the death of their father, 54-year-old Jaipaul Deochand, who succumbed to injuries he sustained in an accident on August 14, 2017.
After spending some 15 days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital and another six days in the surgical ward, the father of four succumbed on September 06, 2017. However, the driver who is responsible for the accident on the Burma Public road, Mahaicony, is yet to be charged.
Ranks of the Mahaicony Police station initially arrested the suspect on the night of the accident; he is said to be of Ithaca, Berbice.
However, he was subsequently released.
Deochand was struck down after he crossed the Burma public road on his way home from a shop where he went to purchase chemicals to spray a rice field. It is alleged that at the time of the accident, the driver of the motor car attempted to swerve from a hump but was driving with his headlamps off and therefore did not notice the man who was already on the other side of the road.
It is also alleged that following the accident, the driver moved to his rightful lane on the road to give the impression that he was there when the accident occurred.
The victim, whose wife passed away 10 years prior, was at the time taking care of his mother, who is bed ridden and his 21-year-old daughter. He was the sole breadwinner for the family and worked as a labourer in various rice fields.
Speaking with the News Room today, the man’s son, Chanderpaul Deochan and daughter-in-law, Nanda Indargit related that the man’s mother is still in shock over his death.
“It affecting we really bad…leaving a sick mother that had stroke, just the other day she daughter carry she way, the house leff abandon now, because she can’t take the shock. She had two son, the first one passed away, now the second one gone, the one who used to look after she,” Indargit pointed out.
The family lambaste the slothfulness of the police in ensuring justice is served. While they remain unsure whether the police are attempting to cover-up the matter, they noted that more could be done to ensure justice is served.
“We’re not satisfied, we need justice,” the relatives said.
However, they also accepted that while many persons witnessed the accident, they are not confident in the police to give statements. The man’s daughter-in-law said, “It get plenty people see the accident, but nobody nah want go to court, nobody nah want go to the police. They see wuh happen, they ready to tell we but they not ready to tell the police.”
The 54-year-old man suffered a fractured skull and broken ribs among other injuries.
