Latest update December 4th, 2024 2:40 AM
One year, 19 court dates later…Relatives not unhappy with dismissal of La Grange fish vendor death
– says physical evidence was enough
After one year, the relatives of the 52-year-old fish vendor, who was killed on the occasion of Indian Arrival Day 2012, are not pleased with the fact that the accused was freed, and the matter was dismissed solely because there were no eyewitnesses.
They believe that there was sufficient physical evidence to prove that Baldeo Mohan also known as ‘Painter’ was hit by the car which was being driven by the now acquitted man.
It was reported that Mohan, who resided at 33 Doctor’s Dam, La Grange, West Bank Demerara died as a result of a hit- and-run accident during the wee hours of May 5th 2012.
According to the man’s family, Baldeo Mohan left home at around 02:30hrs riding his bicycle to purchase fish from the Meadow Bank Wharf. This had been his daily routine for the last 20 years of his life.
Dead: Baldeo Mohan
Kaieteur News understands that the well known fish vendor was riding along the La Grange Public Road when his bicycle was hit from behind by a car, parts of which was left at the scene as the driver fled without rendering assistance to Baldeo, who was hurled in a nearby trench.
Mohan’s bicycle had broken into two pieces from the impact, and was in close proximity to the man’s body. The fish basket was found some distance away.
The man’s daughter Devi told Kaieteur News that a piece of the car’s bumper which had a registration number imprinted on it was discovered and given to the police as evidence.
A few days after the accident, 25-year-old Imran Neshaw of Coghlan Dam, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara, in company of his attorney, turned himself in.
He was later slapped with eight charges, causing death by dangerous driving; dangerous driving; being an unlicenced driver; breach of insurance; failure to stop after an accident; failure to render assistance to an accident victim; failure to report an accident; and taking a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent.
After pleading not guilty to all the offences, Neshaw was refused bail and remanded to prison for a few days before returning to court on May 25th.
Following 19 court dates, the matter was dismissed on the basis that there were no eyewitnesses.
However, Mohan’s wife Nowhari, and their two children are contending that the road was bright enough for the driver of the car to have seen that someone else was also on the road.
“My father was always cautious. He riding to town for years, and he does talk about how some drivers does be drunk and how they does drive at that hour in the morning, so he always used to ride in the corner where he supposed to. Nobody can’t tell we that he wasn’t in the corner, not even the driver of the car. And how they expect to get eyewitness at that hour? He was riding in the corner, that’s how he end up in the trench after he get hit,” the man’s daughter Devi Mohan told Kaieteur News.
She believes that the driver of the car should have been jailed for at least one of the many charges that were put against him, even if it was for taking the car without permission.
“This is not right…how can it be fair that so much people dying and nobody paying for it? This thing becoming too prevalent, like a norm. Lil, lil children and all too…something has to be done,” the woman said.
She added that the most worrying of all, is that “even if things like these are just what the word suggest,-merely accidents, people are purposely being left to die. After you know you hit somebody, the least you could do is try to help. The fact that you leave that person there, should be considered murder. The system needs to start punishing people for doing these things…humanity is lost in today’s society,” she added.
Just recently, Agnes Dabydial, a member of Mothers in Black had called for ‘Causing Death for Dangerous Driving’ to be changed to murder, noting that it is unfair for people’s lives to be regarded as cheap as a few thousand dollars in bail and mere months imprisonment.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Deeply concerned about political dysfunction in society
Dear Editor The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) is deeply concerned about the political dysfunction in society that is... more
Haiti: Tragically Descending into Deeper Crisis
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- As gang violence spirals out of control in Haiti, the limitations of international... more
Weekend Cartoon
