A mother of four died on the spot when she was struck down close to the Texaco Service Station on the Providence Public Road, East Bank Demerara, yesterday morning.

Dead is Mary Sandy, 25, of Providence, also on the East Bank Demerara.

Shortly before midday yesterday, Sandy was returning home after dropping off her son at Providence Primary School, when a speeding car slammed into her.

She had reportedly moved into the roadway to avoid a cow, and into the path of the vehicle.

Sandy was taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre where she was pronounced dead on arrival, and later transferred to Sandy’s Funeral Home.

The car was driven by a policeman to the Providence Police Station.

The driver, Doodnauth Misir, is in police custody.

He had minutes before left Bibi’s Snackette on Public Road, Providence, where he had purchased some refreshments for his fellow employees at a Toolsie Persaud office.

The dead woman, who hails from Moruca, North West District, usually takes her two-week old baby with her, but yesterday she left the child with her husband’s employers at Bibi’s Snackette.

Sandy’s husband, Ramesh Gheer, a labourer at the snackette, said he received the news of his wife’s demise and hurried to the scene where he saw her bloodied body lying on the road.

He was confronted by an angry mob, including his employers, and in the presence of the media, he denied accusations that he habitually abused his wife.

His employers told the Guyana Chronicle that Gheer had disappeared for three days prior to his wife’s death, and that he did that regularly.

Media operatives were allowed to have a look at the shack where Gheer, his wife and children lived. They learnt that the family slept on the floor and cooked on a fireside nearby, while Gheer allegedly spent his wages on marijuana and liquor.

Tuesday last, Gheer chased Sandy with a piece of wood to beat her, but she was rescued by neighbours.

In a conversation with a friend recently, Sandy had expressed the desire to leave Gheer and send two of her four sons to her family in Moruca. She said she would give another son to an orphanage while she looked for a job.

Sandy was described as a mother who loved her children, and all day on Tuesday she was at the snackette, holding her baby, while the three other children sat with her.

She took her children to school every day and would return to take them home from school too.

Adrian Narine photos saved in a folder in Graphics as Providence.