A FAMILY was plunged into mourning on Tuesday when 4-year-old Ramkaran Mohan, known as ‘Ram,’ was struck down by a motor vehicle on the main road of Tuschen Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo. The toddler was rushed to the Leonora Diagnostic Centre and subsequently transferred to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where he succumbed a few hours later.

This newspaper understands that Ram and his 7-year-old brother were accompanied by an older relative to a shop obliquely opposite their Lot 1088, Tuschen New Housing Scheme residence, to purchase a ball to play a game of cricket when he was struck by a silver Toyota Premio bearing the number plate PVV 5084. The car was driven by a woman from the same area.

According to Ram’s grandmother Bibi Khan, around 11:30hrs on Tuesday, the boy, his elder brother Komal Lall and another relative, Michael Plass, were waiting to cross the road and the young boy was holding onto the uncle’s hand when the car turned from the corner and “hooked” him out of the uncle’s hand, dragging him several feet away before coming to a halt.

“The road was very, very clear,” the grandmother attested and noted that there wasn’t any traffic for the female driver to avoid.

The driver upon realizing that she had struck down the child, quickly transported him to the Leonora hospital for emergency medical attention. The child was then transferred to the West Demerara Hospital, but unfortunately he succumbed at around 15:30hrs; he sustained a fractured skull and other internal injuries.

The grandmother also recounted that she was engaged in a recent altercation with the same driver for her dangerous driving. Meanwhile, the older relative Plass, recounted that they saw the incoming car and waited at the road’s corner before crossing, but the car was speeding. He highlighted too that the driver did not initially realize that she struck down the boy until she was flagged down.

Also, when the Guyana Chronicle visited the grieving family, the mother of the child was inconsolable and it was explained that she fainted as a result of shock several times and had to be rushed to the nearby hospital.

The car has since been impounded at the Leonora Police Station, while the female driver is in custody at the Den Amstel police station.

Ramkaran attended the Tuschen Nursery School.