Three dead, two injured in Corentyne smash-up

Aug 05, 2020 News

– drivers in police custody

Dead: Jessica Leitch.

Dead: Kwesi Lewis.

Dead: Reon Moriah.

Three persons, including a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) rank, were killed while two others, including a member of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), were injured in an accident which saw two cars slamming into a parked estate lorry on the Whim, Corentyne, Berbice public road.
Dead is 21-year-old Jessica Leitch of Rose Hall Town, Berbice; 21-year-old GDF rank, Kwesi Antonio Lewis of Springlands, Upper Corentyne, Berbice and 25-year-old Reon Moriah of Circle Street, Corriverton, Berbice. The two injured, Simon Alder, the GPF rank, and Krishan Raj, were identified as the drivers for both cars involved in the accident which occurred Sunday night.
According to a police report, the motor lorry GJJ 5939 was proceeding west on the southern side of the road and motor car PGG 8291 was proceeding in the opposite direction on the northern side of the road. It was revealed too that the driver of the lorry was about to park on the southern parapet when motor car PGG 8291 slammed into the right rear wheel of his lorry and shortly after motor car PWW 582, which was proceeding west on the southern side of the road, also collided with the rear of the said lorry.

Driver of the lorry, Madray Ramsammy.

However, driver of the lorry, Madray Ramsammy of Whim Village, who is presently in police custody, told reporters that around 22:10 hrs Sunday night he had just brought out some shift workers from the estate and dropped them to their location. He said afterwards he headed home and as he was about to park his lorry on the parapet along the Whim public road he felt an impact at the rear end of the lorry.
“When I was about to park, I put on my indicator because I saw the car (PGG 8291) was coming, but I dunno, so fast this man end up hitting my back wheel and the truck just raise up and drop down back so I just stopped the vehicle where I was (rear end tilted out on the public road) and I came out to assist the guy in the car because the car spin. But half an hour after, the next car was coming (PWW 582) from Skeldon side with a speed and lash into me truck,” Ramsammy explained.
The man said that he has parked the lorry at the very location many times in the past but this is the first time that it was involved in an accident. Ramsammy said there were other vehicles with hazard lights that passed shortly before the second impact and it was a villager who was at the scene that alerted him that the second car was coming with a speed. “All I hear the boy seh ‘watch it deh, watch it deh’ and I had to jump in the trench to save myself from being hit,” Ramsammy related.
At the home of Leitch, family members, who were being comforted by relatives and friends, refused to speak with reporters. Over at the home of Lewis, the now-dead GDF rank, his mother, Timeka Solomon, although distraught, managed to compose herself enough to speak with reporters.

The estate lorry.

The car, PGG 8291, which hit the lorry first.

Police at the scene of the accident.

According to the woman, it was her daughter, while sobbing uncontrollably over the phone, who broke the dreadful news to her.
“She was crying and I told her please speak and she told me Kwesi got into an accident. So I called a taxi driver and asked him to take her to the hospital because I was in Georgetown. But the police had already called my husband and told him that he (Kwesi) died,” she said.
She added that based on the information she was given, the driver of the car her son was in, was taking the female occupant home to Rose Hall when the accident occurred. She described her son as a loving and kind child who had decided to join the GDF a year ago. He celebrated his birthday on Saturday last. Meanwhile, relatives of Moriah were not at home when this publication showed up.
Kaieteur News was told that Adler, the driver of the car with license plate PWW 582, had left a horse racing event at Alness Village with three other occupants to make a “drop off” at Rose Hall when the car became involved in the accident. As a result of the impact, they were all taken to the Port Mourant Public Hospital where Adler was treated for minor injuries and the other occupants (Leitch, Lewis and Moriah) were pronounced dead on arrival. The driver of PGG 8291 was also taken for medical attention.
Breathalyzer tests were conducted and the drivers of PGG 8291 and PWW 582 were both found to be above the legal alcohol limit. The drivers are in custody assisting with the investigation.