…Attorney says truck driver was not reckless
The mother of seven-year-old Ciara Benjamin, who lost her life in a tragic accident at Agricola on Sunday, is still trying to cope with the situation days later.
On Saturday afternoon, the child was attempting to cross the road with her aunt, Simone Barry, when she was struck by a truck, bearing registration plate GWW 962, driven by Danion Welcome.
The truck remained fixed on the median with the child pinned underneath. A light pole was unearthed as a result of the impact and subsequently collapsed, ending up on the roadway.
Tracy DeHart, the biological mother of the child, told Guyana Times that her daughter was brilliant and loving. The woman stated that she was too devastated to go to the scene of the accident after she received the telephone call.
She explained that her daughter resided with her father, Orlando Benjamin, since she was two, but would visit periodically.
“Her aunty called me and said that my daughter just passed away in an accident and I was in a shock to know that just a couple months back, she was with me. I couldn’t reach to the scene because everybody keep telling me that the traffic is too heavy.”
DeHart stated that she did not have a chance to view the body until the next day. The woman said they are expecting a complete probe into the accident to determine what transpired.
“I want to know exactly what went on because a lot of things going around on Facebook and stuff like that. It needs to be clarified,” the dead child’s mother relayed. In tears, the woman added that she celebrated her birthday on Sunday and was expecting her now dead daughter to visit.
This publication understands that the driver of the truck, Danion Welcome, was severely beaten by residents from the area and later handed over to the Police. After the scene was cleared, another unexpected tragedy arose when the lorry was set alight at about 18:10h, creating a towering inferno in the middle of the roadway.
The truck driver’s attorney, James Bond, has defended that his client was neither reckless nor negligent during the tragic accident.
Bond posited that Welcome was proceeding at some 20 kilometres per hour but was forced onto the median by a taxi. He is of the belief that the child should not have been in the middle of the carriageway.
“My client was not negligent, not careless or reckless when Ciara met her demise. He was proceeding 20kmh and was forced on to the median by a taxi. My client was completely unaware that was on the median,” a statement read.
He contended that his client suffered a fractured skull and contusions about his body.
On Sunday, stepmother of Ciara, Chrisan Thegg stated that she would usually take the child to plait her hair. She was also supposed to assist her with her school assignments.
“I told her yesterday (Saturday)…I said I am going to the mall and we are going to buy the stuff to do your assignment, she was going to make a traffic light so I said we are going to go there and do that today (Sunday).
Police have recovered CCTV footage from a nearby surveillance camera, which will be used in the investigations. At a press conference on Monday, Police Commissioner Leslie James told the media that they are reviewing the surveillance footage to determine who was at fault for the death of the seven-year-old child.
He also encouraged civilians with information on the accident to come forward while denouncing the vigilante beating of the driver. He reiterated that those who were involved in the beating, once apprehended, will face the full brunt of the law.
