Latest update December 21st, 2024 12:37 AM
Taxi driver’s relatives devastated by his death
– eight-year-old daughter now an orphan
Calvin Kellman was probably enjoying a wonderful dream when he was aroused by the sounds of persons calling out his name loudly after 2am yesterday.
To say that he was livid would be an understatement, since he could not think of a reason for the interruption, especially at that time of the morning.
Angrily, he demanded who they were and although he heard the familiar name of the owner of the taxi service with whom his brother worked, he did not make the connection.
Quincy Kellman
The persons who had rudely awakened him–his brother’s ‘bossman’ and another driver attached to the Oasis Taxi Service–were bearers of bad news.
“I asked them why dey wake me up. I thought they come to molest me. Then one of them say there was an accident and right away my mind run to my brother and I freeze. I couldn’t holler, I couldn’t move,” Calvin Kellman told this newspaper yesterday, hours after he learnt of his brother Quincy’s death.
Quincy Kellman, 38, of Belfield, East Coast Demerara was killed on the spot shortly after 23:00 hrs last night after the driver of an out of control truck smashed headlong into his vehicle on Mandela Avenue.
According to reports, Kellman, the father of an eight-year-old daughter was heading west along Mandela Avenue, in the vicinity of B K International, when the truck, which was heading in the opposite direction, veered into his path.
There are reports that the driver lost control of his vehicle after overtaking a van and smashed into Kellman’s taxi.
The impact was so loud that one resident said that she thought that gunmen were on the attack in the area.
The entire front of Kellman’s vehicle, HB 3983, was crumpled like a tin can.
His body remained trapped in the wreck for several minutes until ranks from the Guyana Fire Service arrived on the scene and cut through the twisted metal.
News of his death was relayed to his immediate relatives and there was an outpouring of emotion, with everyone describing the dead taxi driver as one of the most generous persons they have met.
Kellman’s sister-in-law Alexis recalled the last moments he spent with close relatives.
It was as if he knew his time was near, although he showed similar generosity on previous occasions.
“He called me on Sunday afternoon and told me to get the children dressed–his daughter and my daughter – too for a drive,” Alexis said.
Kellman took them to a supermarket in Mahaica where he allowed the children to “take whatever they want”.
“They took a basket and start pulling down like mad. I tried to stop them but he insisted that they take whatever they wanted. The children wanted to stay but he had to go because he had to pick up somebody at the airport. The last thing he did was hug and kiss them,” Alexis Kellman told Kaieteur News.
As he was leaving, Kellman’s daughter again insisted that he stay a little longer with her but he assured her that he would return home early yesterday morning to take her to school.
For the little girl, her father’s death is the second major blow in four years. Her mother was shot dead during a bandit raid on a travelling circus in Berbice.
“She is crying all the time,” Alexis Kellman said.
Meanwhile, the driver of the truck remains in police custody awaiting charges.
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