THIRTY-one-year-old Shalini Jewlall died yesterday at the Georgetown Hospital some two days after being involved in an accident at Main and St Magdalene Streets, in New Amsterdam, Berbice.
Jewlall, an auxiliary staff of the Demerara Distilleries Limited (DDL), along with her seven-year-old daughter, Marlene Adeline DaSilva, was attempting to cross the road on Sunday when a speeding motorcyclist ran into them.
Both mother and daughter, as well as the motorcycist, who was also injured in the accident, were taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital. There, doctors on assessing the extent of Jewlall’s injuries, transferred her to the Georgetown Hospital, where she subsequently died.
Her husband of 13 years, Vidian  DaSilva, was too distraught to speak with the Guyana Chronicle. But his mother, Lelia DaSilva, at whose home on Strand Road he was when the Chronicle caught up with him, said he, his wife and daughter were returning from their home, which is currently under construction, when the accident occurred.
“It was customary for them to bring Marlene  to sleep with me,” she said, adding: “They would then return to the construction site, where they would keep watch over the building materials.”
Recalling the sequence in which the accident occurred, Ms DaSilva said: “My son, Vidian, moments earlier, had crossed the road with his bicycle.  Shalini and her daughter stood on the eastern side; they were waiting for the road to clear.
“A car stopped, and the driver signalled them to cross. But as soon as they were attempting to do so, a speeding motorcyclist slammed into them.”
Eyewitnesses said it all happened so suddenly, everyone was in shock. They also said that many motorists were  reluctant to take the injured to the hospital.
But eventually, the driver of a vehicle belonging to privately-owned security firm came forward and offered to take them; and according to reports, after the injured were moved, there was blood and what seemed like brain matter left behind on the roadway.
According to DDL Sales Supervisor, Ms Margaret Bulai, Jewlall had been in the company’s employ as a cleaner for over ten years.
She was a dedicated employee, she recalled. “She worked beyond her job description,” Bulai said. “She was an all-rounder, and customer-oriented.”
Meanwhile, the motorcyclist remains a patient at the New Amsterdam Hospital, while the child has been discharged and is currently staying with her mother’s relatives.
A post mortem examination is expected to be conducted today at the Georgetown Hospital.