Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Iwokrama accident victim feels neglected
At the relatively young age of 55, Anthony Lieu Ken Pen feels that half of his life has been snatched from him. The ability to earn and make a valuable contribution to society has also been lost to him.
These days Lieu Ken Pen, popularly known as Terry, has become more morose, swamped in a state of depression that to him is inescapable, given the fact that he has only one arm and finds it difficult to perform even the most mundane task.
Anthony Lieu Ken Pen
“Right now I can’t even peel an orange for me self, the simplest things I can’t even do. I have to pay people to do just about everything for me. At this point I can barely afford that, because I’m not working and my meager resources are hardly adequate,” he laments.
Terry was involved in a tragic accident four years ago at Iwokrama, where he worked as a contract driver. His right arm was torn off, he said, after another truck swerved into his lane and slammed into his vehicle.
On the day in question, March19, 2008 Terry said he was at work at Field Station Kurupakari, driving the vehicle DPL 3010, which was owned by Iwokrama.
At the time he was reportedly working at the butterfly unit of Iwokrama and had been sent to do purchasing.
The accident occurred in the Iwokrama Forest Reserve, involving motor lorry GEE 9246 owned by one Terrence Crawford of Friendship, East Bank Demerara.
“The truck was in the wrong lane- it was in my lane; I was negotiating a left turn, approaching from the south. I know when I got the impact, but then I lose consciousness. When I regained consciousness, I tried to free myself from the vehicle.
“And you know I trying to ease me self out of the vehicle and I just turn around and saw the bones sticking out from my right arm, just below my shoulder, and my arm was off-that was the most terrible thing to watch. When I looked down, my arm was on the road and the whole one side of the vehicle was ripped away.”
“On the other side, I saw the vehicle that was responsible turned over on its side,” he added.
Terry said that he was air dashed to Georgetown where he was admitted to the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.
He claims that Iwokrama only paid a part of his hospital bill; he had to pay the rest.
“The only thing that Iwokrama did after that accident, apart from paying a part of my medical bill, was to give me one month’s salary, while I was in hospital and a return trip to Lethem, where I had to attend court, as the accident occurred in that jurisdiction.
“At present, I still have to attend court in Lethem-and the return trip is $24,000-plus. I have to find meals and accommodation. This is a tremendous financial burden on me, because I’m not working. I cannot work, but yet I have to find this money to go to court.
“Many times when I call the Iwokrama Head Office in Georgetown, the CEO is always in a meeting, or not in and his Secretary always assures me that he will call me back, but he never does. He probably did like one or two times, and that was it.”
Now severely handicapped, Terry said that he spent several months at home convalescing. He had to learn to do some of the simpler things with his left hand; but there were other things that required two arms. Those he couldn’t do. That called for a lot of adjustments, he said, including hiring somebody to assist him around the house.
“I have to pay to do a lot of things. I can’t even peel a potato, or cut up onions-I have to pay to get all of that done.
“The accident also resulted in me suffering two broken ribs and torn ligaments. Presently I can neither stand nor sit for long because of the pains. When I sit down I have to brace my back and slide on my behind to be a little comfortable. This is hard- it is really hard, and the thing is, I’m living alone, so you can imagine how difficult things can get.
“So right now I need these people to do something. Four years of suffering like this is too much-I cannot continue like this!’ Terry declared.
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