SEVEN-YEAR-OLD, Joseph Quallis, the school boy pinned against a fence and killed by a speeding car, a short distance away from his home on Middle Road, La Penitence on June 12 last, was yesterday buried at Le Repentir Cemetery, amidst agonising wails and hysteria emitted by bereaved family members and other mourners and sympathisers.

The child’s body was earlier in the day opened up for viewing at the Sandy’s Funeral Home, after which it was taken to the Berea Seventh Day Adventist Church, Garnette Street, Albouystown for a Thanksgiving Service for his

life.
Officiating minister of the Gospel was Pastor Travis Atkins who lamented that the life of a budding child had been snuffed out and so little Joseph did not live to fulfil his God-given potential.
“Today, a promising young child is no more; an aspiring doctor is no more. A young scientific mind is no more,” Pastor Atkins said. He, however, called on the bereaved family to keep looking to the Lord, who is the author and finisher of all things.
Meanwhile, the post-mortem performed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Mortuary on June 16, revealed that besides injuries to the brain, he also suffered a broken neck, broken ribs and backbone, and fractured hands and feet.

On the day he was killed, Joseph, a pupil of St. Pius Primary School, had just returned home from school; changed his clothes then left the home to go to a shop to buy pholourie, according to his, grieving father, Andre Quallis. Andre who spoke with the Guyana Chronicle, further mentioned that soon after the child had left the home, a car was seen and heard ‘racing’ through the street, then the screeching of brakes, followed by a loud ‘bang!” and the crashing of steel were heard.
But, seconds before, as the car raced past the Quallis’ home, the child’s father took note and frowned, saying: “I hope he don’t knock down me child.” At that instant the crashing sounds were heard and the child’s parents, on learning that somebody’s child had been rammed and pinned against a fence, rushed out to see. On reaching the scene, they realised that it was their seven-year-old who had just minutes before, left the house.
Meanwhile, the driver of the car PPP 5931, Jermaine Carrol, 28, of Stevedore Housing Scheme, appeared in Court on June 16, before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry to answer the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, as well as driving a vehicle which did not have its third party

insurance, in force.
The motorist, who pleaded not guilty to both charges, was refused bail and remanded to prison until July 4.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Florence Simon, the woman against whose fence the car had crashed and killed little Joseph Quallis, remains compassionate towards the death and supportive of the bereaved family members, but is peeved that to date, neither the owner of the car nor the driver’s relatives have come forward to tell her anything about repairs to her property.
“The fence has been torn down, and is just patched by old zinc sheets. In the meantime, the security of my home is compromised. I want to know who will repair my fence,” the woman pondered.