Chronicle production superintendant dies after car ends up in ditch

Mar 29, 2009 News

A 54-year-old middle management staff of the Guyana Chronicle perished after he was pinned in his car, which crashed into a ditch alongside the Main East Coast Demerara Highway in the vicinity of Happy Acres early yesterday morning.
Raymond Lynch, of 11 Area CC Ogle, who was eventually pulled from the vehicle by ranks of the Guyana Police Force and some public spirited persons, was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital around 04:30 hours.
Lynch, a long standing staff of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited, and who was described as a loyal employee, was returning home after dropping a friend to his home at Golden Grove, some 11 miles away.
A police source told this newspaper that they received a call informing them that a car had plunged into a ditch near the Happy Acres drainage pump.

The dead man’s daughters Tiffiana, (left) and Jadacey (right) and other relatives could not come to grips with his sudden death.

At least one motorist said that he had passed the car lying on its side off the road but did not think that anyone was inside.
When the police arrived they observed that the car was turned on its side and was partly submerged in the shallow water and mud.
A closer examination gave them a shock as they observed that the driver was pinned inside.
They arranged assistance to pull the car out, but by that time the occupant appeared dead.
The police recovered the man’s driver’s licence with his photograph and also ascertained that he was from Ogle.
After they had taken the body to the hospital where doctors officially pronounced Lynch dead, they went to his home but had to wait for almost 30 minutes before the occupants, who were asleep, responded to their calls.
Lynch shared the home with three of his daughters, Tiffiana, Jamacey and Kerisha.
Jamacey Lynch recalled that she saw her father on Friday night, hours before she got the horrible news of his death.
“He said he was going out. He did call home as he normally does,” Jamacey Lynch recalled.
Tiffiana, the eldest, said that she answered the telephone at about 05:00 hours yesterday.
It was a neighbour who told her that the police were outside.
“I peeped out and asked them what the matter was and they asked me if my father lived here. I knew that daddy was not at home so I suspected something was wrong with him,” Tiffiana told Kaieteur News.
She quickly put on some clothes and went out to the policemen and then she learnt that her father had an accident.
“They did not say what happened to him but they told me that I have to go to the hospital,” she added.
Neighbours also sensed that something was wrong but none of them wanted to alarm the girls.
Eventually, the police could not keep the tragic news from the family and one policeman reluctantly told them that Lynch was dead.
The news hit like a thunderbolt as both Tiffianna and Jadacey began screaming and had to be comforted by neighbours.
They were subsequently driven first to the Sparendaam Police Station where their father’s mangled car was and then to the Georgetown Public Hospital where their fears were confirmed.
Other relatives and friends, who turned up at the hospital, including the friend that he had dropped home earlier, were in a state of shock.
The friend claimed that Lynch and a group of friends had taken a ‘drink’ at the Latino Bar after which they left for home.
He said that Lynch offered to take him to Golden Grove before returning to his home in Ogle.
“My jacket and hat even lef in he car,” the friend stated at the hospital.
According to Assistant Administrative Manager of Guyana Chronicle, Samuel Bynoe, he first heard the news from another senior staff of the Chronicle who informed him that Lynch was involved in an accident.
Bynoe recalled that he had seen Lynch on Friday afternoon.
According to Bynoe, about two hours before his death Lynch had been contacted by the management of the Guyana Chronicle to inform him of the death of former President Janet Jagan and to advise him that he needed to ensure that the news was printed on the front page of the newspaper.
Lynch however did not go to the press but instructed one of his juniors to carry out the function.
This newspaper understands that, minutes before his death, Lynch did call back his junior to enquire if the instruction was carried out and everything was all right.
“Honestly, I could not believe it because yesterday we had discussed a project that we were to start at the Chronicle. We were to start preparation work on Sunday,” Bynoe told this newspaper.
Lynch’s death would certainly take a severe toll on his children since he was described as a hard working, loving and caring father.
“It has made me feel weak because he took a piece of me with him. Since I was a baby he was there with me. I could talk to my father about anything. Although I saw his body, I still think that he will walk through the door and call my name,” Jadacey Lynch said.
Bynoe whom the children refer to as Uncle Sam confirmed this.
“He and the children were very close. And we were very close, too, so the children grew up with that respect, calling me Uncle Sam. I don’t know what to say to them,” Bynoe stated.
Lynch began his career at the Guyana Chronicle as a pressman before being promoted to supervisor, a post he held for many years before becoming senior Production Superintendent last year.
Apart from three daughters who shared the Ogle home, Lynch was also father to four others.
The entire staff of the Chronicle Newspaper, along with those of all media houses, is deeply saddened by the tremendous loss of a man who helped to take the news of the nation where it needed to be taken.
A post mortem examination will be performed on Lynch’s body on Monday.