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Recklessness on Demerara River claims another life

Dec 02, 2010 News

Ernest Theopholus Gomes, better known as Vernon Grey, an 86-year-old former resident of Muritaro, up the Demerara River, was buried on Tuesday in Linden, more than a week after he died at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
His children said that he lived out his last days out in excruciating pain at the institution.
Grey was transferred from the Linden Hospital Complex, where he had initially been taken after he was run over by a boat in the Upper Demerara River on November 5.
He subsequently died on November 23, from complications, as a result of the injuries he sustained in the accident, according to his daughter Grace Nicholas.
Nicholas said that she wants justice for her father, because the people who ran over his canoe with their engine boat, remain ‘scot free’ while her father is dead.
Grey was on his way to a nearby shop to buy kerosene, according to his daughter.
“My father was travelling down the river when he was hit by this boat which was driven by (name given). We took him to the mission after the accident, and then took him to the health centre, and later to the Linden Hospital, as his injuries appeared serious.
He was vomiting blood, and couldn’t eat; he was crying out for pain all the time,” a distraught Grace Nicholas declared.
She added that her father had to be transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital having sustained internal injuries as well as a broken leg.
There he underwent surgery for the broken leg, but never recovered, according to Nicholas who further reported that the attending physician told her that his death was a result of the internal injuries.
‘Recklessness’ on the river
The accident involving Vernon Grey, and which resulted in his death was actually the third to have occurred in the river in the vicinity of Muritaro within a two-month period, according to reports.
The penultimate one occurred a mere week before Grey’s and involved another ‘high powered engine’ boat, which was reportedly speeding. According to Wesley Robeiro, who was injured in that accident and lost all his ration, $14,000 worth in ice, and whose boat was extensively damaged, such accidents in the river are caused by sheer ‘recklessness’ as some boat operators seem to have no regard for others on the ‘water top.’
“Dem man using big high-powered engines, and when they ‘lash’ me boat, they ‘jump’ over like fifty feet! Is a good thing I fall down in the bottom of me boat or I coulda be a dead man. “I lose consciousness for couple minutes, but me partner dem run we boat in the bush, because we went near to the bank.”
According to Robeiro, if they were out in the channel it would have been a tragedy, as his boat was split about six feet down the middle. Miraculously none of the other four men in Robeiro’s  boat were seriously injured.
Robeiro however sustained multiple cuts and abrasions, and torn ligaments in his shoulder.
The man said that he regrets his decision not to make a big issue out of the accident, as he was only compensated to the tune of $45,000 by the owner of the other boat, who said he had no more money, and that if he, Robeiro, wanted more he had to take him to court.
Robeiro said that he settled for the money, to avoid a lengthy court battle, even though his boat costs almost $250,000.
The man who fishes and hunts for a living, which necessitates frequent trips up river, said that he is now suffering a terrible setback, as he is still repairing his boat, and thus cannot ‘make a move’.
Several perturbed persons have voiced their concerns about the current reckless and inconsiderate behaviour of these boat operators which has resulted in the recent spate in river accidents.
What persons find most surprising about the last two accidents is that both occurred during the day – the one involving Grey occurred about 9:00 hrs and the other involving Robeiro, at 14:00 hrs on the respective days.

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