– were returning from Middle St. shooting victim’s wake
– owner, dispatchers say Holder was not an employee

EVEN as the owner of Crown Cabs Taxi Service and some of his employees are denying that Sunday night’s accident victim 19-year-old Tiana Holder was not one of their employees, her mother Sharon Holder says that her daughter has been working with the company for three weeks now.

The teen along with Percival Chester, a taxi driver at Crown Cabs Taxi Service, perished on Sunday in an accident on Mandela Avenue. According to reports, Chester lost control of the car he was driving with Holder as a passenger and crashed.
The mother of the dead woman said yesterday morning that her daughter, who resided at lot 18 Bent Street, left for church on Sunday along with her brother and grandmother. The woman said that when her daughter was leaving for church she informed her that her boss, the taxi service owner, had informed all staff that they must be present at the wake for Vanessa Williams, the Crown Cabs Taxi Service dispatcher who was killed by berserk businessman, Deryck Kanhai in a shooting rampage one week ago.
The woman said that she cautioned her daughter about going to the wake, saying it was not compulsory for her to be present at any wake. She said that her daughter then informed her that she also has to collect her salary for the week ending November 16th.
However as the young lady left for church she did not walk with her other footwear which she would usually wear to work and this made her mother feel that she would return home before going to the wake.

However after church was over, only her bother and grandmother showed up at home. Mrs. Holder said that she enquired about Tiana and was told by her little brother that she went straight to work after church.
On Sunday evening Mrs. Holder received a call informing her that her daughter was involved in an accident on Mandela Avenue. She said that she rushed down to the hospital and did not see her daughter. She then visited the accident scene where she saw the body of her daughter.
The woman recalled that her daughter was bleeding through her nose, mouth, ears and the back of her head was bashed in while her neck seemed to have been broken. She said that her first reaction was to hold her daughter and call on her to wake up but she got no response. She said that she then fixed her lifeless daughter’s clothing.
Meanwhile, in trying to understand why some persons at the taxi service were denying that the young lady worked there this publication asked her mother to tell us what she knew.
Mrs. Holder said that her daughter applied at the taxi service for a job as a secretary and was informed that she needed to have a pass in mathematics but the young lady did not get good grades in that subject at CXC.
However the taxi service owner, according to Tiana’s mother, told the 19-year-old that if they did not find someone suitable for the job she would be given the position. He also told her there was need for a dispatcher and she would be given that job if she wanted it while they await someone qualified for the secretary’s position.
When Guyana Chronicle visited the home of the taxi driver at 16 D’Urban Street, Lodge, no one was there to speak with the media and his wife had already gone out. Chester who is the father of a one-year-old child was also a model who paraded on several catwalks.
The police are continuing their investigations into the fatal accident.

(By Leroy Smith)