Police confirm cars were drag racing

Dec 16, 2008 News

Police on the East Coast of Demerara have confirmed that the driver of a white Honda Integra, PLL 1485, was involved in a drag race that led to the death of 31-year-old Sonita Thomas on the Enmore Public Road last Saturday.
A source close to the investigations told this newspaper that the police have enough evidence that Faraz Mohamed was speeding along the roadway, causing his car to slam into motor car PKK 8288, in which Thomas and four other passengers were travelling.
The source said that, although the police have been unable to apprehend the other driver that was involved in the drag race, it is clear that recklessness was the cause of the horrific smash-up.
“Mohamed’s friend had just completed some work on his car, and they decided to test the speed against the Honda Integra,” the source said.
Mohamed’s car came to a halt almost 100 metres from the point of impact.
As a result of the accident, Thomas was killed instantly while three other occupants, Samantha Clarke and US-based Guyanese Elonora Layne and Gillian Culley, are currently hospitalised.
The accident, which occurred at about 22:40 hours on Saturday, left many onlookers in a state of despair as they stared at the wreckage of two cars and the badly mutilated body of Thomas lying on the roadway with her brains and other body parts spattered all over the roadway.
Thomas, a mother of one, and who resided at Seventh Street, Dazzell Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara, bore the brunt of the impact, since she was sitting in the back left side seat of PKK 8288, which was hit by the speeding car.
The drivers of the two cars escaped with minor injuries, and after being held in custody overnight, were admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday.
In a press release issued on Sunday, police stated that their investigations had revealed that motor car PLL 1485, driven by Faraz Mohamed of Enmore, and motor car PKK 8288, driven by US-based Patrick Layne of Paradise, ECD, were travelling in opposite directions along the roadway. It is alleged that the driver of PKK 8288 turned across the road to enter an access road and collided with the other vehicle. Eyewitnesses had disputed the police version, claiming that the driver of the car PLL 1485 was drag racing with another vehicle when the collision occurred.
The accident occurred hours before Elonora Layne and her husband Patrick, the driver of their car, were scheduled to return to New York. More shocking was the fact that the dead woman, Sonita Thomas, was also scheduled to return to Barbados, where she was resident up to early last year.
“She (Sonita) get an open ticket to go to Barbados. She was to go in October but she keep putting it off, and said she going in February month when she done put away for Christmas. This is the open ticket that I get,” Desiree Thomas, her mother, cried.
She said that when she subsequently visited the mortuary, she could recognize her daughter only by the little piece of hair that was left on what remained of her head.
Sonita Thomas leaves to mourn a three-year-old son.
The horrific accident comes at a time when the Police Traffic Department is aiming for a record reduction in road fatalities this year.
There are reports that several drag races take place on a nightly basis on the roadways of the East Coast of Demerara.
A senior traffic rank on the East Coast, Sergeant Moore, has been at pains to get the perpetrators to desist, even by setting up sting operations to catch them.

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Police confirm cars were drag racing

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