Rupununi family wiped out in accident

Aug 18, 2025 News

The Stephens family who were killed in Sunday’s accident in Rupununi

Kaieteur News – In less than 24 hours six persons have been killed in separate road accidents, among them two children. The most recent accident took place on Sunday along the Rupununi to Lethem trail, Region Nine, reportedly wiping out a family of three.

The victims have been identified as a young couple Jagnarine and Keyra Stephen along with their only daughter a toddler identified as Laurel Stephen.

Speaking with Kaieteur News, the dead man’s cousin said that they are from Yakarinta Village, South Rupununi and were heading to Lethem when tragedy struck.

Reports are that they collided with a minibus along the trail while negotiating a slight curve. Allegations are that the bike was on the wrong side of the road at the time of the crash.

Stephen and his wife reportedly died on the spot but the baby girl was rushed to the Lethem Regional Hospital in a critical state. Unfortunately, she too passed away while receiving treatment in the emergency unit at the hospital. The entire family was killed mere hours after another accident claimed the lives of three persons along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, Region Four. During the wee hours of Saturday, a Fielder Wagon crashed, reportedly into a parked truck, claiming the lives of seven-year-old Meranzo Campbelle, Shelly Joseph and Keiron Wells. The driver remains critical. The seven-year-old victim is his son. Police are yet to provide a statement on both accidents. Investigations continue.

In the first half of 2025, while overall road accidents decreased by 3% compared to the same period last year, road fatalities increased by 6%, with 70 deaths recorded, including two children as of July 30. The period also saw 66 fatal accidents, 166 serious accidents, 235 minor accidents, and 428 damage-only incidents.

Late last month Chairman of the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC), Earl Lambert, had called on the government to adopt a “three-strike” system for repeat traffic offenders as part of broader efforts to improve road safety across the country.

Speaking at a National Road Safety Stakeholders Forum, Lambert urged that drivers who repeatedly violate traffic laws should have their licenses revoked and be required to return to a certified driving school for retraining. Lambert emphasised the need for a cultural shift among drivers, stating that many motorists today focus more on getting to their destinations quickly than driving safely. “In driving it’s about, go, go, go… you have to stop and wait and make sure that in that process you think about other road users, you think about getting safely to where you are, and on this time, I don’t think people exercise that caution of ensuring that safety is exercised. We need to emphasize safety on our roads,” he said.

He questioned whether existing enforcement measures such as e-ticketing systems, speed cameras, and body cameras are enough to curve the high rate of road accidents. “One of the things that we would like to ask the government to put in place is what I call the three strike system where motorist must be penalized every time, if they have been having several traffic tickets or infractions, and therefore have their license suspended or revoked, and they go back through a driving practice, and they improve the way they use the road. That by itself will send a message, because a lot of us use our driver’s license to earn and if those licenses are suspended, it is going to send a message that you need to exercise care, caution, consideration, courtesy and common sense when you are using the road, and that will contribute heavily towards the way we use our roads,” Lambert explained.

Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken echoed Lambert’s concerns, stating that enforcement alone will not solve the road safety crisis. “We can increase patrols, install more speed cameras, and prosecute offenders, and we will, but unless we change our collective attitude toward road safety, we will continue to bury our children, our family members, and our friends,” Hicken said.

“The police cannot do this alone. Road Safety is everyone’s responsibility. It is drivers, pedestrians, parents, teachers, transport operators, policy makers, insurance engineers and media personalities,” he said.

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accident, Keyra Stephen, Linden Soesdyke Highway, Rupununi, Yarankinta Village

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