Four killed in Linden/Soesdyke Highway crash

May 04, 2009 News

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– traffic cop among victims
By Jenelle Carter and Latoya Giles

Four people, including a traffic policeman, were killed at around 03:30 hrs yesterday after the car they were in slammed into a parked truck near Camp Seweyo  on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.

The dead were identified as Candace Simon, 26, Selima Khan, 22, Ashanti Gomes, 21 and Police Constable19554 Troy Bramble. Those injured are Aubrey Renville, who was driving the car at the time of the accident and Devon Hector, 21.
The two are said to be hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital, where Hector’s condition is listed as critical and Renville’s is listed as stable.
The group of friends was reportedly returning from the annual Linden Town week celebrations when the tragedy occurred.
When Kaieteur News arrived at the scene, onlookers stood gazing in horror at the mangled car and the body parts of the, victims which were strewn on the highway.
A police statement said that six persons were traveling in HB 4200, which was heading to Georgetown when the vehicle crashed into a parked motor lorry and trailer, which was transporting a bulldozer.
Reports are that the truck driver had left the vehicle parked on the turn after it developed mechanical problems.
It is unclear whether the vehicle was equipped with reflectors.
Hospital sources said that two of the women were killed on the spot while a third woman died while being transported to the hospital.

Before Bramble’s body arrived at the hospital several of his colleagues gathered at the hospital hoping that maybe he was not among the dead.
As his body was being taken out from a police vehicle, some of his colleagues and relatives began wailing as their worst fears were confirmed.
News quickly spread about the accident, and relatives began calling their families who had left for Linden to check on their conditions.
This was the case with Vanice Hodge, who lost her daughter, Candice Simon and two of her daughter’s friends Selima Khan 22, and Ashanti Gomes 21.
Hodge said that she received a call from a relative asking her about her daughter and if she had heard from “Candice”.
“A relative call me and tell me I should check on Candice because she hear that some girls crash up in a car on de highway”.

The woman said that she immediately started calling her daughter’s cell phone and became more fearful about her safety after she failed to answer.
Hodge said that she along with other relatives rushed to the GPHC and headed to the Emergency Department.
By then, the bodies were already wrapped in plastic to be taken to the mortuary. The mother, who also acts as a guardian for Khan and Gomes, said that they left Georgetown around 23:00hrs Saturday night for the Town Week celebrations.
“They come outside and tell me they going to Linden with this police guy (Trevor Bramble), so I ask if is so late they leaving”, Hodge explained.
The woman said that she eventually gave in to the girls’ pleas to let them go.
“I tell Candice that she shouldn’t go out now but stay home and wait until Sunday, but she tell me that she really wanted to go Linden.”
Hodge said that as her daughter was leaving the house her six year old daughter said to her, ‘mommy don’t go because you gon dead’. “But she send de lil child in she bed and tell she sleep”.
She further told Kaieteur News that she did something very strange, before her daughter left for Linden.
The woman said that “Candace would always beg me to lend her my two gold rings but I would always tell she no, but for some particular reason I just tek them off and give she,” the mother said with teary eyes.
The mother also stated that since her daughter and her friends returned from Suriname she began having terrible dreams about someone dying.
“I jus keep getting these dreams and I tell them, but I was praying against it and look what still happen”.
A female acquaintance of Trevor Bramble, Tamika Thomas, told Kaieteur News that she last spoke to Bramble around 22:00hrs on Saturday night shortly before he left for Linden.
“He called me and asked if I wanted to go to Linden but I said no, and I told him that I was going to bed and he should call when he was leaving”.
But she never received that call.
She described Bramble as a jovial individual who loved life and his job, since that was the main reason he was heading back to town so early in the morning.
Police officers who were at the scene also confirmed this, stating that Bramble had to report for duty at 07:00hrs Sunday morning.
Owen Hector, the father of 21-year old Devon Hector, was in a state of disbelief to learn that his son had been involved in an accident of this magnitude.
Mr. Hector said that he is thankful that the Lord spared his son’s life but lamented the fact that Hector lied to him about his whereabouts.
He recalled that he and his wife had left their home to attend a wake. They returned home around 24:00rs and called his son on his mobile phone, and he told them that he was at Victoria Road at a dance.
The older Hector said that his son even placed his friend, policeman Trevor Bramble, on the phone in an effort to confirm that he was indeed at Victoria Road.
“He put Trevor on de phone and he tell me that they deh at some dance in Victoria Road and they coming home lil late”.
“After he told me that I felt relaxed and retired to bed.”
He got a phone call around 06:00hrs informing him about the accident.
Devon Hector sustained head and neck injuries and his condition is listed as critical. Aubrey Renville, who works with the Pretty Posse Taxi Service, walked away with a broken leg and minor cuts and bruises about the body.
Relatives of the females and Devon Hector opined that the driver had to be speeding for the motorcar to receive the damage it sustained.
Both Candace Simon and Ashanti Gomes leave to mourn two children each. Simon is survived by 14 siblings and her mother, Vanice Hodge.
At the scene, several onlookers expressed concern that the truck was parked around a turn, since it would have been difficult for traffic coming from Linden to see it.

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