THE driver implicated in the alleged hit and run incident, in which fourth grader Jasmattie Ramnauth was killed, surrendered to Police around midday yesterday.
He remained in Police custody, as investigations continued into a report that he had fled the scene, leaving the lifeless body of the girl and her seriously injured brother, Vayjai, on  Cotton Tree Public Road, from where they were taken  to Fort Wellington Cottage Hospital, also on West Coast Berbice, by public-spirited citizens.
Nine-year-old Jasmattie was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital while Vayjai, 8, was transferred to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he is a patient.
Eyewitnesses said the siblings were walking along the road when motor car PMM 8812 struck them, hurling Vayjai several feet into the air while Jasmattie was pinned under the front wheels of the vehicle, which then smashed an electricity pole and plunged the area into a blackout.
Residents quickly picked up the unconscious Vayjai and his dead sister, Jasmattie.
When the tragedy occurred, shortly after 08:30hrs, the children were returning home after being told, by their respective teachers, that their previously scheduled end of term examinations had been rescheduled for the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Vayjai was yesterday clinging to life at the Pediatric Ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital.

The child, who suffered a gaping hole at the back of his head and a fractured left leg, also wore a brace about his neck, and lay motionless in bed – evidently in pain.  He was allowed visitors, but had difficulty speaking. However, he managed a request for a drink of water.

The two Primary School children who lived at D’Edward Village, were on their way to school and were in good sorts, walking, holding hands when, as they were in the vicinity of the popular ‘Looknauth’s Shop’, tragedy struck.
The children’s grandfather, Arnold Rhagbeer and a neighbour, Lalchand Praimnauth, who managed to muster up courage, in the midst of fainting parents and others, joined paramedics and accompanied the injured child in the ambulance en route to the city.
On hearing the loud impact, and fearing the worst, villagers in the usually quiet neighbourhood, went racing to the scene where they beheld the gruesome tragedy.  The mangled remains of the nine-year-old girl, was removed from where it was pinned under the car and taken to the Fort Wellington Hospital where she was pronounced dead, before being taken to the morgue.
News of the child’s death and injuries sustained by her brother sent shockwaves around the quiet countryside where the villagers are closely knit.  (Shirley Thomas and Jeune Bailey Vankeric)