-driver remains in custody

ONE of the victims in Sunday’s deadly accident on Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown, remains in a serious condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), while the 19-year-old driver of the vehicle remains in police custody.

Up to Monday, a total of two persons involved in the accident still remained hospitalised for their injuries, Regional Commander Division 4 ‘A’, Khali Pareshram, explained in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle.
Those hospitalised are Troy Glen of Laing Avenue, and Delvern Luthers, of Wortmanville. One other victim, 22-year-old Joel Rose, of Durban Street has since been discharged from the hospital.

The Valentine’s Day accident has already claimed the lives of two young persons – 19-year-old Dakera Gritten of Nutmeg Street, Festival City, and 21-year-old Tonika Halley, a mother of one, from East La Penitence, Georgetown.

Gritten, a labourer of Toolsie Persaud Limited (TPL), died at the scene of the accident, while Halley succumbed at approximately 05:30hrs while receiving treatment.

The driver has been identified as 19-year-old Rayon Alves, of East La Pentience. Alves is said to have suffered minor injuries, and assisted the other occupants out of the vehicle before fleeing the scene. He was later apprehended by the police at his house and taken to the GPHC for treatment.

The accident occurred at approximately 00:30hrs while the friends were reportedly on their way to a bar-b-que. The overloaded vehicle, PVV 1289, was being driven at a fast rate of speed and proceeding west along the southern carriageway of Homestretch Avenue when the driver lost control of the motor vehicle, causing the vehicle to topple several times, and collided with a utility pole on the northern parapet, before ending turn turtle in the trench running along the side of the Castellani National Art Gallery.