A TRUCK driver is in police custody following a fatal accident at Le Ressouvenir Public Road, East Coast Demerara, early Wednesday morning.

Dead is cattle farmer, Boodnee Persaud called “Shirley” of Lot 116 Success Housing Scheme, who was returning home after taking her cows across the road to the seawall.
Police reported that the accident happened at about 06:30hrs when the 73-year-old was in the process of crossing the road from south to north when she came into contact with the tray of the lorry.

At the time the truck was heading west along the southern side of the road and as a result of the impact, Persaud fell and the rear left wheel of the heavy-duty vehicle, GLL 5714, ran over her head. The body is at the Lyken Funeral Home awaiting a post mortem which is expected on Friday.

A breathalyser test was administered and the 30-year-old driver of East La Penitence, Georgetown, was found not to have any alcohol on his breath. Son of the deceased, Mohanram Persaud, told the Guyana Chronicle that he received the dreaded news of the incident from a neighbour who stated that his mother was returning home after taking her cows across the road to the nearby seawall when she was killed.

He related that he hurried to the scene and saw the motionless body of his loved one lying under a tarpaulin. Persaud added that it is habitual for his mother to take the cows to and from their home on a daily basis, and she would even go to the seawall to check on them during the day.

He said, “My mother was a very able-bodied person who went about her chores as usual and was not stricken with any illness and for her to go that way is very difficult for us to come to terms with.”

Persaud, who was on the verge of tears, stated that his mother was not sickly and she had been rearing cows for the past 10 years and was a devotee of the Success Mandir. She is expected to be laid to rest according to Hindu rites in the new week.