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Speed claims another victim on Corentyne highway
Dead: Damine Drepaul
Twenty-four year-old Damine Drepaul, of King Street, New Amsterdam, was added to the road fatality statistics Thursday evening – a victim of speed.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
The driver of the vehicle, his lifelong friend, 24-year-old Vishal Singh, of 43 Reliance, East Canje, is said to be in a stable condition at the same hospital.
The father of the deceased, retired police Corporal Paul David, of King Street, New Amsterdam, sobbed yesterday as he relived the last few days with the youngest of his three children. “I want to remember him as the handsome young man, the loving child, the very cheerful person he was…A good child.”
According to police reports, the victim was traveling to New Amsterdam in PEE 2870, a car owned by Chandra Singh, of Chapel Street in New Amsterdam. At the time Vishal Singh was reportedly driving the vehicle.
According to reports, the vehicle was traveling in a westerly direction towards New Amsterdam, when about 17:45 hours, on the Number Seven Public Road on the Corentyne the driver lost control of the vehicle which was said to be speeding.
It toppled several times and Damine Drepaul, who was sitting in the front seat, pitched out of the window and landed on the southern parapet.
Both men were rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital. The driver sustained head and other injuries.
The dead man’s father put his pain and loss aside and wished the driver a speedy recovery. “I am happy the driver is alive. It could have been both of them (dead). I don’t even want the police to charge him.
I went to the hospital and asked the nurse to see him but she would not let me. I just wanted to ask the driver what happened.”
As he fought to hold back the tears, Mr. David related that his son left home about noon on Thursday with his friend, for the Corentyne, to purchase glass for a door. About 17:00 the wife of the deceased, Michelle Omar Kaium, contacted him on his mobile phone and he told her, he would be there shortly; he was on his way home.
About 45 minutes later the family got the message that he was involved in an accident and was at the hospital.
Mr. David went to the New Amsterdam Hospital very hopeful that the news would have been good. “We confirmed that he was dead. I can’t say what injuries he had, I didn’t see him, but according to what people saying he got injuries to his neck.”
Damien Drepaul was well known and much liked in the town of New Amsterdam. “He was so affectionate and obedient. Everybody knew Damine; he was known by the whole police force. He never had an accident, one time he was charged for obstruction of traffic.”
The frequent churchgoer and member of the Lutheran Church in New Amsterdam got a scholarship for Jamaica to study theology, but Damine said he was not ready to go since he was so very young.
The dead man is survived by his wife, Michelle Omar Kaium, and toddler, 29-month old Chelsea. The victim was the only child for his mother.
Drepaul was a self-employed driver and recently all he wanted was a new car. His father had promised him one but he did not live to see the day.
With trembling lips, a teary eyed Mr. David mumbled, “If there is anything else left for me to say – it would be – I want him back! My wife said he is not dead, go wake him up and bring him home!”
Damine Drepaul is to be laid to rest in Cumberland on Tuesday.
(Melissa Johnson)
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