Latest update January 30th, 2025 6:10 AM
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Another life lost on the Berbice roadways
Albert smith
MANCHESTER VILLAGE, CORENTYNE – On Sunday yet another road fatality was recorded on the Berbice roadway. The latest casualty is Albert Smith of Lot 95 Alness Village on the Corentyne.
He was the victim of a hit and run that has police in Division ‘B’ trying to ascertain the identity of the driver. However, relatives of the dead man believe there is an attempt to cover up how their loved one met his end.
Police reports indicate that the car is owned by Parbattie Latchman of Number Fifty-eight Village on the Corentyne. According to information received from police, she left it with a relative who in turn handed it over to the driver.
That relative along with the owner of the vehicle are now in custody at the Whim Police Station.
Police reports further state that about 22:30 hours the 30-year old Smith was walking along the Manchester Public Road. The car, PJJ 7173, was heading westward when Albert Smith walked into its path in an attempt to cross the road. The right front of the automobile struck Smith.
The car was subsequently found deserted on a Side Line Dam in Alness Village and is now in police possession.
Albert Smith was picked up by an anti crime patrol in the vicinity and taken to the Port Mourant Hospital where he was pronounced death on arrival. The body is awaiting an autopsy.
Sheldon Smith said his brother, Albert Smith, was in the corner of the road smoking a cigarette when he was struck. “He was still in the corner; he was going to cross but still in the corner behind the white line when the car hit him pun the right hand side of the road and drive away.”
Sheldon Smith was not at the scene but recalled what eyewitnesses told him. “When we go out on the road I see the car parked not far from where I living. One of the police girls (is) living just where the car was parked. I go and reach a next CID boy by the name of Adams on the scene. “
The victim’s sister-in-law, Shaunann Nieuenkirk, said that the entire episode appears to be a cover up and she informed police officials of what she had learnt. “We were told that someone rent the car from the owner and park it in front of their gap for the night.
“This morning (Monday) they realise the car missing and call and report it to the police station; the police did not turn up. When the person turn up at the Station to make a further report then they hold him up and lock him up and say the car was in an accident. They (police ranks) covering up for the other police them. It was two police ranks in the car at the time of the accident. One is from Whim Police Station and the other one from Central Police Station. We can’t determine who was driving.”
According to Shaunann Nieuenkirk, she confronted one of the ranks she suspected was in the car at the time of the accident. “I asked him if he was on the scene when the accident happen and he said ‘yes’. I then asked him if the other rank, a female from Central Police Station was with him and he started to curse.
“Then afterward he said he was in a shop playing cards when the accident happen and one of my relatives drop him home. How he could be two places at the same time?”
Albert Smith celebrated his 30th birthday on December 19, last. “He just celebrated his birthday and it was a quiet day. He don’t have a kid or anything. He was just quiet. He worked as a cane-harvester at the Estate”.
“The police at Whim Police Station told us to go to Ramoo’s Parlour to see the body. When I saw him is just a piece of skin holding the right foot and like his neck break and his hand bruise up. He deh bad.”
Albert Smith was the last of four boys. When his mother passed away he was only a baby and was raised by his other siblings.
Late yesterday evening a source from the Guyana Police Force stated that no report of police ranks being in the vehicle at the time of the accident was made but investigations are still in progress.
Road fatality statistics show that there were 24 fatal accidents this year with 25 deaths on the Berbice thoroughfares. In 2008, the figure was 22 fatal accidents with a matching number of lives lost.
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