Labourer falls to death from two-storey building

Jan 18, 2010 News

A Better Hope, East Coast Demerara family was plunged into mourning yesterday after 23-year old Gerry Anthony Smith fell to his death from a 20-foot roof.
Smith, who was working on the building owned by a popular used tyre and heavy duty equipment dealer, was pronounced dead at around 09:00 hours while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Hospital where he was immediately taken after the fall.

Dead: Gerry Anthony Smith

The young man was said to be a labourer who was employed by the establishment.
Speaking to Kaieteur News yesterday, Vishnu Ramdial, whose family operates the business, said that the tragedy occurred after he had asked Smith to clear some debris from the gutter on the roof of one of the buildings.
Ramdial claimed that while on the roof, Smith stood up and came into contact with a power line that ran over the building.
He was subsequently hurled from the roof and landed on the concrete yard some 20 feet below.
“Like he head hit the electric wire and he fall off,” Ramdial told this newspaper.
Ramdial said that as soon as Smith fell he picked him up and placed him into a pick-up and headed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
Despite the desperate efforts of doctors, Smith succumbed.
Apart from his relatives, Smith’s death is another blow for the business establishment, whose proprietor died two weeks ago.
Over at his grandmother’s residence, where Smith grew up since his mother died, preparations were already being made for the wake.
His cousin Audrey told Kaieteur News that Smith left his home at around 06:30 hours for work.
She said that at around nine o’clock, one of his employers came to the residence and picked up one of Smith’s family members and took him to the hospital.

Smith met his death after falling from the roof of this building.

According to Audrey, the employer did not immediately reveal what had happened, apparently opting not to alarm Smith’s relatives.
“They just say he fall off a building,” Audrey said.
She said that by the time she and other relatives went to the hospital, her nephew was already dead.
His grandmother, Lucy Webb told this newspaper, “I see this vehicle come with a speed and pick up me son-in-law. So I say that they must be carrying he (son-in-law) fuh get a wuk.”
But the son-in-law returned with Smith’s blood stained pants and gave it to Webb.
It was only then that the elderly woman realised the tragedy that befell her grandson.
“I ask he wha wrong and he say Gerry fall off, he get some shock and he fall down and when they meet hospital he dead,” Lucy Webb told this newspaper.
She said that the employers have undertaken to stand all the expense for his funeral and arrangements are being made to further assist his mourning relatives.
A post mortem examination will determine if Smith died from the fall or as a result of the electrical shock, since his body sustained several burns.