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Speeding car kills girl, 9, leaves brother critical
Tragedy struck on the Cotton Tree Public Road yesterday morning after a speeding car that was reportedly travelling far above the speed limit, hit two school children killing one of them on the spot and crashed into a nearby fence,.
Eyewitnesses told the media that the driver could have been speeding at over 100kmh in a 50kmh zone. He lost control of the vehicle and careened off towards a nearby fence, slamming into the children.
The car ended up crashing into a fence after hitting the children.
Jasmattie Ramnauth, nine, was killed on the spot, while her brother, Vijai Ramnauth, 8, sustained serious head injuries and a broken leg. He is now a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
Doctors said that while he is not out of the woods, his condition is stable.
According to reports, the siblings, whose address is listed as Lot 15 Catenkie Street, D’ Edward Squatting Area, West Coast Berbice, were returning home from the Cotton Tree Primary School around 08:25 hrs after they were told by their teachers that there would be no school for the morning session.
They were hit by a Honda sports car PMM 8812 driven by a contractor named ‘Bangad’ from Number Two Village, East Canje. The car was heading to Georgetown.
Their grandfather Arnold Ragbeer, called Boyo, told Kaieteur News that he heard the sound of an impact and rushed out to see what had happened.
He got the shock of his life when learnt that the children involved were his grandchildren.
“It was a simple turn and early in de morning; I don’t know how dis happen,” Ragbeer stated.
A neighbour who accompanied the injured Vijai in the ambulance to Georgetown recalled that he too heard the impact. He said that at first he dismissed it as some animal being hit as is usual in that area.
He said that his wife peered outside and rushed back in to tell him that people were screaming and that it appeared that a child was struck down.
The neighbour said that he decided to investigate only to learn that his neighbours’ two children were struck down by a speeding car.
“Everybody start fuh cry; man, woman they start fuh holler because fuh see dem people dis poor and something like dis happen to dem pickney,” the neighbour said.
“Me nah believe dat thing like dis should happen. If God want dem, wait till dem ah sleep and tek dem, not disfigure dem like dat; dah wrang,” he added.
At the time of the accident the children’s father was catching shrimps to supplement his daily earnings. “When he come and see was he pickney dem, de man fall down. He couldn’t even go and see he pickney dem at de hospital,” the neighbour stated.
This newspaper was told that the dead girl’s right foot was severed at the knee while portions of her brains were on the road.
Her ribbon was several yards from her body, leaving nothing to the imagination about how far she was dragged. Public-spirited persons had to lift the car to get to the bodies that were pinned underneath.
The man then ran away from the scene and escaped.
An eyewitness told this newspaper that after the accident, the driver of the car helped place the children into a minibus and joined the said bus with a view to taking them to the Fort Wellington hospital. However, somewhere during the journey, he stopped the bus, jumped out and disappeared.
Further information revealed that the same driver had hit a boy from the same area two years ago. The lad was left crippled. Ironically, the boy resides next door to the Ramnauths.
Residents of the area cried out for justice yesterday after the gruesome accident and called on the authorities to bring the driver to justice.
According to reports, the driver may have been ‘paying his way through the legal system’ to escape charges for the incident involving the boy that was hit 2 years ago.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the man may have been under the influence of alcohol after partying over the weekend.
Meanwhile, police are said to be on a hot trail to capture and arrest the driver.
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