High Court dismisses $400M lawsuit against Chinese road contractor over fatal accident

Oct 30, 2025 News

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— Court rules gravel pile not to blame for pillion rider’s death

(Kaieteur News) – The High Court has dismissed a $400 million lawsuit brought against Chinese-owned road contractor Sinohydro Corporation Limited over a fatal motorcycle accident on Mandela Avenue in June 2021.

Justice Nicola Pierre ruled on Monday that the claimant, the estate of Kareem Powley, failed to prove that the company’s alleged negligence directly caused his death.

According to documents seen by this newspaper Kareem Powley was the pillion rider on a motorcycle driven by Joshua Mentore on June 27, 2021, along Mandela Avenue. The driver of the motorcycle swerved to avoid a car, ran off the road and into a pile of gravel on the road shoulder before coming to a stop some distance away.

Powley died at the scene of that accident. His estate represented by attorney Darren Wade, alleged that his death was caused by the negligence of Sinohydro Corporation who was carrying out road works at the accident site, and who allegedly had ‘negligently left a pile of stones at the side of the road with no safety markings which led to the claimant’s demise.’ The estate claims that the Second named Defendant – the Attorney General representing the Ministry of Public Works /Chief Roads Officer/Government of Guyana (GOG) is also liable in negligence because the GOG is the entity in control of that road and owed a non-delegable duty of care to users of the road.

In her ruling the judge held that the GOG has a statutory duty to maintain, repair and superintend Mandela Avenue, which is a public road but does not ordinarily have a statutory duty to ensure the safety of users of the public roads. “There is no statutory or common law liability for taking no action to prevent harm or to warn of the dangers of the road. Road authorities have no liability in tort for nonfeasance, only misfeasance,” Justice Pierre outlined in her ruling.

The decision also pointed out that the GOG’s liability for misfeasance may arise if it creates or adds an unnecessary danger to the road when it engages in acts of maintenance, repair, and the like – this may give rise to a duty of care at common law. In this instance the judge explained that “An individual who had suffered damage because of some act which the authority had done to make the highway more dangerous could sue for negligence or public nuisance in the same way as he could sue anyone else.” The judge explained that given that the lawsuit is a claim in negligence, to succeed in an action in negligence the claimant must prove that the defendant owed them a duty of care, that the defendant breached that duty, that the breach of that duty caused them injury/harm/damage, and that they suffered loss as a result of that injury/harm/damage.

The claimant is entitled to compensation (damages) for losses they suffered flowing from the injury/harm they suffered caused by the defendant’s tort/wrong (breach of duty). According to the Court document, this could not be proven. The court pointed to “an astonishing lack of evidence,” in the case. The witnesses were Althea Pollydore – mother of Kareem Powley and administrator of his estate, Jun Han the safety officer from Sinohydro, and Mark Anthony Greene the project Manager from the Ministry of Works who managed the contract for this project. However, none of these witnesses was present when the accident occurred. The claimant was the pillion rider on the motorbike; the driver of the motorbike Joshua Mentore who survived the accident was not called as a witness.

The defence team led by attorneys Jerome Khan and Narendra Singh said the evidence derived from the police accident report showed that the motorcycle did not collide with the stone but travelled some 39 feet before hitting the gravel and the deceased was found 96 feet away, all pointing to speed as the causative factor.

According to the lawyers, the reason the motorcycle collided with the gravel was that it swerved to avoid hitting an unknown car. As a result of the facts presented, Justice Pierre determined that the breach of duty in having unmarked and unlit stones on the road shoulder of an unlit road under construction was not the cause of the accident, nor death, and Sinohydro is therefore not liable for the losses stemming from the damage caused by the accident. The judge concluded that “The gravel not being the cause of accident or death, there is also no possibility of liability in the GOG.” She outlined too in her decision that “It is worthy of note that even if the unlit unmarked gravel on the side of the road gravel was found to be the cause of the accident, and Sinohydro liable, liability would likely not attach to the GOG because no evidence was led in relation to whether the GOG took reasonable care in choosing the contractor and scrutinising the contractor’s plans, and monitoring the contractor’s activities.” The court therefore ordered that the Statement of Claim be dismissed and the Estate of Kareem Powley pay costs in the sum of $100,000 to each of the defendants.

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• Chinese, fatal accident, Kareem Powley, road contractor

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