By: Amar Persaud
Family members of 16-year-old Shereeda Persaud got the shock of their lives when they received news that the teen girl died in a tragic four-vehicle collision at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
Persaud, of Bath, West Coast Berbice (WCB) was supposed to be in school – Bush Lot Secondary School – where she was a top performer.
However, the young lady seemingly ditched school and was picked up in a motorcar driven by her 21-year-old boyfriend, Christopher Bhagwandat, to head back to his Mon Repos, ECD home to celebrate his mother’s 45th birthday when the fatal accident occurred.
The car driven by the young man, PNN 8852, was reportedly stopped by traffic ranks at Perseverance, Mahaicony, ECD. The young man pulled in the corner but as the cops approached, he reportedly drove away at a “fast rate of speed”. A mobile patrol was alerted and went into pursuit. This resulted in a high-speed chase, culminating in a four-vehicle collision involving another motorcar and a canter.
Both Persaud and Bhagwandat died.
In an interview with this publication, the young girl’s uncle, Tameshwar said the Guyana Police Force (GPF) acted unprofessionally.
“I think the Guyana Police Force acted unprofessional…I think the Guyana Police Force is unprofessional!”
“They could have put other roadblocks after that one, because you check that distance from Perseverance to Mahaica, tell me that distance how much miles it have there,” he contended.
Like Bhagwandat’s mother, the Persaud family is calling for a thorough investigation into the matter.
“I met with the guy family this morning…we want a thorough investigation; I want to know how professional these police are… I don’t want what happened to my niece happen to somebody else again.”
“I think and I know they could do better and we want a thorough investigation, we need somebody to come clean with us because those footages that circulated on social media is unacceptable for us…that CCTV footage that we saw the with the police on that bridge, they need to be more professional,” the uncle asserted.
Young Persaud was the eldest of three children to parents, Munesh Persaud and Sheliza Mohammed, both 35. She was preparing to write the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) – which her uncle was helping to pay for.
“It’s paining me to know of this, anything she asks for, I always give it to her, she always come to me and say “Cha-Cho me want this or me want that”, I would try my best to give it to her,” the uncle lamented.
“She has to write CXC. I went to the school and I tried to pay part of the money, the teachers told me that she wants to write arts and so on, I come home and I gather the payments and I pay for that exam.”
“My brother, he has to pay for their house, he took a loan form the bank, the family is in a squeeze, my brother he does part-time taxi work, but he works at GuySuCo…is the only daughter from the family and it’s really hard,” the uncle explained.
According to him, his niece had a bright future ahead.
“She was a very jovial, kindhearted person, she always had a smile, she was very, very good in school, she was a part of the Youth Parliament…she was debating about accidents at the Youth Parliament,” the uncle noted.
Reflecting on the day in question, Tameshwar explained that the young lady had left for school. In fact, he said the family is unaware that she shared a relationship with Bhagwandat.
“We never heard about it, last week I talked to her, I said “do you have a boyfriend”, she said “Cha-Cho no, you promise me you going to pay for my exams, you did pay for the exams but I don’t have anybody when I finish then I could have somebody”. But I said “if you have somebody feel free to talk to me, I’ll be open anytime to talk to you”,” the uncle explained.
According to him, his niece left the house dress in her school’s uniform. The family confirmed that the girl was in school but she seemingly left the institution’s compound at around 10:00h at recess.
The family only learnt that their daughter died in the accident in the late afternoon.
“She supposed to visit my sister home which, that would have been 3 ‘o’clock…so we were waiting for her to visit us in Cotton Tree…the mother called me 3 ‘o’clock and ask me if Shereeda came and said no…the dam is long so I said she probably at the dam coming in…I said I gone call as soon as Shereeda reach,” he explained.
However, he said about ten minutes later, the family received a call informing them that the teenager was involved in the horrific accident and is currently at the hospital.
When the family rushed to the hospital, they were told that the young girl died.
“They show us the video, when the show us the video, I started to scream and say that’s not my niece!”
Investigations are ongoing.
