By Isanella Patoir
On May 22, 2022, 50-year-old Reonol Williams called ‘Ram’ left his Enmore, East Coast Demerara home to drop his younger sister in Georgetown.
He was accompanied by a friend, 22-year-old Davis Peters; while they were returning home just after midnight, Reonol was struck down along the Enmore Public Road.
Since then, his family has been unable to locate him.
“Where is the body? Who saw? Who is going to come out and help me?”, Reonol’s sister, Silvie Williams questioned during an interview with the News Room on Thursday.
Silvie said her brother left home at about 14:00hrs that afternoon; she recalled that after hours passed and he did not return home, she figured it was due to the heavy rain that night.
Silvie woke up about midnight and while wondering if her brother ever made it home, she heard a loud impact. The family lives a short distance from the Enmore Public Road.
“In my mind, I was saying it’s an accident and my mind flashed to him downstairs; I wondered if he was downstairs,” Silvie said.
A few minutes later, Peters came shouting for her and she knew something was wrong.
“He said: ‘Aunty, Uncle Ram died’ and I said ‘how’ and he said: ‘a car lash him down,” a tearful Silvie explained.
Silvie and her husband, Leslie Kaladin rushed out to the scene but Reonol was already whisked away in the car that struck in him down. The driver reportedly told eyewitnesses that he was taking the injured man to the hospital.
“We rushed to the scene and that is where I saw my brother’s bag, it is still too painful and fresh in my mind because everything was pitched away on the roadside,” Silvie related.
She said she recovered his bag and shoes at the scene along with bits and pieces of a license plate. Photos later surfaced of the accident where a red fielder wagon with license plates PAB 2552 was captured next to Reonol’s body.
Reonol was observed lying on the road in a bloodied state; he was wearing a blue long pants and grey vest.
REONOL DISAPPEARED
After the police arrived at the scene and took a statement from Peters, Silvie said the family travelled to the Georgetown Public Hospital and that is when they discovered that Reonol never made it there.
“So we left and went to Woodlands Hospital and no one, then we went to Balwant Singh and no one, so we came home,” the sister said.
The next morning, they visited the Cove and John Police Station and while there, they received a telephone call that an unidentified body was at the Memorial Gardens Funeral Parlour.
However, when the family arrived at the parlour, they were told that the body was that of an East Indian man and Reonol is of Amerindian descent.
“I did not get to see the body, but the police go in with the ID card to identify and they also said it is not him,” Silvie related.
Relatives then formed a search party and started checking drains and backdams along the east coast.
Friends and family who work at GPHC also conducted checks with the mortuary daily, hoping that his body would turn up. All other hospitals, mortuaries and funeral homes are also being searched but to date, there are no signs of Reonol.
“To the [persons] who handled my brother’s body, who picked him up, who saw his blood, who smelt his blood, either to put him in a bag or to tie string on it so that he can’t float or drag him out of the vehicle…wherever they might have put him, I know they have a heart, I know they are not a peace so why are they not coming forward to say where they put the body? Silvie questioned.
“At this point, I can say I would have accepted that it was an accident but they have taken things to a different level where it is a crime that has been committed,” the distraught sister told the News Room.
CAR RECOVERED
Meanwhile, the car that was involved in the accident was found abandoned, without license plates at the back of Haslington on May 23. Relatives claimed that the car is badly damaged and traces of blood were found inside. It is now impounded at the Cove and John Police Station.
When contacted, Regional Commander Khali Pareshram told the News Room that they are working with the Police Legal Advisor in the investigation.
Commander Pareshram said one person was arrested and released on station bail. When questioned further if it was the driver behind the wheel or the owner of the car, the Commander did not want to say.
“Searches were conducted and so far we have discovered no evidence to suggest the location of the victim,” Commander Pareshram said.
He also noted that crime scene technicians have inspected the car.
However, Silvie’s husband, Leslie Kaladin said that police reportedly told them that the car was not being driven by the owner.
According to Kaladin, the police told the family that when contact was made with the owner of the car, they were told he [the owner] is working in the interior and left the car parked by his mother and that someone used it without his permission.
“There are cameras that the police can run within the area that they find the car and the area that the accident happen and they can get a suspect,” Kaladin posited.
Reonol is described as a hardworking and jovial person. He is the father of two girls. He was employed as a labourer at Navin and Sons Construction.
“We understand that maybe he is dead but we want to find him and we want to bury him and we want his children to know what happened,” Kaladin pleaded.
Relatives held a vigil on Wednesday night at the spot where Reonol was struck down. Persons held placards that read ‘Where is Reonol’ and ‘Justice for Reonol’.
The owner of the car is responsible. Charge him and make him answer to the Courts. The person who “took” the car may well not have been the owner but the owner knows who it is and is protecting the person. So charge him. A few months in remand and he will sing a different tune.