Death toll rises to five

Jul 20, 2011 News

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Homestretch Avenue accident…

Pull Quote:  “I will be channeling all my anger, all my pain to fight this road carnage….this nonsense has to stop…we cannot continue to lose our young people like this.”- Victim Peter Mc Clennon’s mother

By Latoya Giles

The death toll for the Homestretch Avenue accident rose to five yesterday with 17-year-old Erica La Cruz succumbing to head and internal injuries at around 01:00hrs at the Georgetown Hospital.
Like most of the victims, La Cruz hailed from Sophia and residents from the area are gearing for a massive protest today against reckless minibus drivers, including the one who brought tragedy to their community.
The protest is being led by Doris Anita Shelton, whose son, Peter Mc Clennon, is among those killed.
Information has now surfaced that the vehicle was overloaded at the time of the accident.

The dead are Headmistress Coretta Benjamin, 40, her eight-year-old daughter, Crazel Paul, both of Lot 704 ‘B’ Field, Sophia, who was celebrating her birthday on Monday; Peter Mc Clennon, 29, also of ‘B’ Field, Sophia; Junior Duncan, 47, of ‘A’ Field Sophia and 17-year old Erica La Cruz, also of ‘A’ Field, Sophia.
Injured in the crash are US-based Guyanese Renisha Benjamin, 8, Keisha Thornton, 22, Jamacie Archibald 16, who was discharged from the hospital, Shawn Archibald who suffered a fractured skull among other injuries, Tatianna Smith, 3, who suffered head injuries is resting in the Pediatric Unit, while brothers Michael and Anthony, Queen’s College student Dalicia Paul, Royston Garraway and Colin Jones were all discharged from the hospital.
While Kaieteur News was visiting the injured, the grandparents of 17-year-old Erica La Cruz were inconsolable after learning about her death.
Her grandmother recalled that the teen had left home around noon on Monday for work. She was expected to leave work at around 17:00hrs on Monday to uplift an aunt’s prescription pills.
On learning about the accident, relatives tried to contact Erica, but calls to her mobile phone went unanswered. It was only yesterday morning that they eventually confirmed that she was one of the victims.
Erica was raised by her grandparents since she was three months old.
At the home of Junior Duncan, relatives were offering words of comfort to his wife Joyann.
Mrs. Duncan told Kaieteur News that she last saw her husband at around 18:00hrs on Monday, when he left their Sophia home to get an item at the Stabroek Market. He had promised to return quickly.
But around 19:00hrs Monday, she received a call from a friend who asked her whether she had heard about the accident.
Mrs. Duncan said she immediately got an uneasy feeling. Panic set in when she started calling her husband’s mobile phone and all the calls went unanswered. This prompted her to hurry down to the GPHC, where Mrs. Duncan said hospital staffers refused to disclose any information about the identities of the victims.
“I told them that my husband just left home and entered the bus that was involved in the accident so I needed to know if he was okay.”
And as news surfaced that two men had died in the crash, the panic-stricken woman again tried to get information from the hospital.
“After I hear two men died I started to panic and kept asking the hospital to give me a description of the clothes the men were wearing and they refused.”
The wife and other relatives eventually left the hospital sometime after midnight.
Determined to learn more about her husband, the woman said she left her Sophia home early yesterday to visit the Georgetown Hospital Mortuary.
Her worst fears were confirmed when she identified her husband’s body at the mortuary.
Mr. Duncan leaves to mourn four children, aged 21, 13, 10 and seven.
At the home of Coretta Benjamin, relatives were still in a state of shock over the death of the 40-year-old primary school principal and her eight-year-old daughter. The relatives indicated that they were too distraught to speak with the media.
The head teacher was the only girl for her parents and her daughter was her only child.
Ms. Benjamin was taking her daughter Crazel, and her eight-year-old, US-based niece, Renesha, to buy ice cream to celebrate Crazel’s birthday when they were killed.
At her Sophia home, and angry but determined, Doris Anita Shelton was busily making notes for a protest against callous drivers, including the one who had snuffed out the life of her son, Peter Mc Clennon.
“I’m very angry that my son had to die in this manner,” Ms. Shelton told Kaieteur News.
She recounted that it was just under two years ago when she was walking around the streets of Georgetown protesting against speeding drivers.
Shelton forcefully expressed that drivers should not drink and drive or speed and if they do, passengers should not even pay them.
“I will be channeling all my anger, all my pain to fight this road carnage….this nonsense has to stop…we cannot continue to lose our young people like this,” Shelton cried.
Yesterday, APNU presidential candidate Brigadier David Granger visited Sophia to express condolences to relatives of the dead and injured.
As the presidential candidate walked around the Sophia area, a number of persons vented their thoughts about the accident which many say could have been prevented.
Granger yesterday told the small gathering that something needs to be done with the road carnage.
According to Granger, persons who are tasked with transporting persons should be made to have a special commercial licence.
“These drivers need to have a special commercial licence because its human beings they have in their vehicles and not cargo.”
He further told the residents that the problems start from the licencing department, since he believes there are many people who aren’t supposed to be driving that are on the roadways.
Granger asserted that persons who have been in previous serious accidents should have their licences revoked until due process in the courts. He also expressed his dissatisfaction regarding the settling of traffic offences which involve dangerous driving.
It was also stated that the criminal justice system and the law enforcement need a total revamping if change is to come about.
According to Granger, the traffic department of the Guyana Police Force is not equipped to handle areas with heavy traffic.
The victims were travelling in a route 48 minibus, which had left Sophia, when the speeding driver suffered a blowout shortly after overtaking another bus on Homestretch Avenue. The vehicle then toppled over several times. Many of the passengers were hurled through windows onto the roadway.
The driver, Jermaine Jackson, escaped with hardly a scratch and was taken into custody.
He remained in police custody yesterday and according to police sources could be charged before the end of the week. This newspaper was told that Jackson’s licence had expired since March.
All the survivors who spoke with Kaieteur News alleged that Jackson was speeding.

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