Two days into the New Year, Guyana recorded its first road fatality when a man who was on his way home with his spouse, early Sunday morning, was struck down by a taxi on the Lusignan Public Road, East Coast Demerara.
Mark Seebarran
Dead is 30-year-old Mark Seebarran, a mason, formerly of Lot 301 Lusignan West. According to a police press release, at about 03:10hrs on Sunday, the driver of HB 7825 was proceeding along the Lusignan public road when Seebarran, who was towing his reputed wife Melissa Robinson, 22, rode out from an access road onto the main road. The car subsequently collided with the couple, throwing them off the bicycle.
Both Seebarran and Robinson suffered injuries, and were taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where the former was pronounced dead on arrival and the latter was admitted. It is reported that the driver of the motor car was taken into police custody to assist with investigations.
When Guyana Times International arrived at the residence of Robinson’s mother at Good Hope, the injured woman had only minutes before returned from the hospital. She was visibly shaken and had several bruises about her body and one leg was bandaged. Robinson tearfully recalled the moments leading up to the accident. “My husband and I were coming from a bar; we went out partying because it was the New Year. We had completely crossed the public road, and were about to ride into the street when all I felt was something hit the bicycle from behind,” she said.
The injured woman said that the very next thing she remembered was opening her eyes and realising that she was lying in the tray of a police vehicle. She explained that she was later told that after the car hit the bicycle, she and Seebarran were thrown into a nearby trench. After she had regained consciousness, she noticed that her husband was lying very still beside her. “I couldn’t think, and I could barely breathe. Everything just happened so fast. They took us to the hospital, and then I didn’t see my husband after that. I kept asking ‘Where is he? Where is my husband?’ Then a doctor came and told me that he was dead,” she said. The woman recalled that she did not believe what the doctor had told her until she was taken to see Seebarran’s body for herself.
She now has difficulty contemplating life, especially without Seebarran, who was the family’s sole income earner. She explained that she and Seebarran had been together for six years and they have a five-year-old daughter, Sarah. She is also worried for her daughter, whom she believes is too young to fully understand why her father is not there. However, she is more concerned about her daughter’s health. Three years ago, Sarah was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which doctors say cannot be operated on in Guyana.
