Latest update December 4th, 2024 2:40 AM
Liliendaal fatal accident…Pick-up driver was “way over” legal alcohol limit
The young driver who lost control of his pick-up truck on Wednesday night, killing 37-year-old hotel employee Lavena Williams-Tull, was found to be 200% over the allowable alcohol consumption limit for motorists.
Dead: Lavena Williams-Tull
The breathalyzer test was administered to the young man a few hours after his vehicle slammed into Tull, sending her body several yards into the Ocean View International Hotel compound.
This newspaper was reliably informed that the test was conducted all the way over on the West Coast of Demerara, since there is currently no working breathalyzer on the East Coast of Demerara.
A police source indicated that the driver, who resides at 176 Sparendaam (Pradoville 2), could be placed before the court as early as today, following the results of a post mortem examination on Tull’s remains.
Meanwhile, the dead woman’s relatives are still reeling from the shock of her sudden death.
When this newspaper visited the home of Tull’s mother in Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara, there was still loud wailing, even though hours had passed.
Neighbours and other sympathizers, upon learning about the tragedy, kept trickling in, offering their condolences to the bereaved family.
Dorela Williams, the dead woman’s sister, recalled the minutes before they learnt of her death.
She told this newspaper that she was at home when her sister’s husband called her around 22:30 hours, enquiring about his wife’s workplace’s telephone number since he was not getting through to her cellular phone and she was a bit late in coming home.
She told her brother-in- law that she did not know the number and she too tried calling Tull’s cellular phone but was also unsuccessful in making contact.
“The phone kept ringing and then went to voicemail,” Williams said.
Five minutes later her brother-in-law called back and told her that he had received word that her sister had died.
That piece of information sent shivers down Williams’ spine.
“I said, ‘Oh Jesus Christ’!” she exclaimed.
At first she thought that her sister had been shot during a robbery in the hotel at which she was employed. But in the midst of the confusion, a villager on a motorcycle related that Tull was involved in a road accident and he urged relatives to go to the hospital.
They first went to the scene of the accident and although the body had already been removed, they saw for themselves the carnage that had occurred.
“I went to the police at the scene and asked him for my sister; I asked him if she was dead and he said no. It was a resident who told him ‘stop lying and tell de people de truth’,” Williams recalled.
She spoke to another woman who was with her sister seconds before she died and the woman confirmed that Tull had died on the spot.
The dead woman’s relatives finally left for the hospital, where reality hit home.
“At first a male nurse was not giving me assistance, so I ran into the Emergency Room. The doctor stopped me and told me not to make noise because there were other patients there. He then pointed me to where my sister’s body was lying,” Williams stated.
“There was ‘Lovey’, a bucket was catching her blood; her two ankles deh like on thread, severed; her shoulder break and mud was in her mouth….it was terrible,” Williams recounted.
She said that the sight was too much for Tull’s husband.
According to Williams, her sister, who had no children, celebrated her first wedding anniversary two months ago.
Her death represents the 12th road fatality so far for this year.
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