By: LaWanda McAllister
A teenager, who was admitted a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) following an accident along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway on November 22, has succumbed to her injuries, leaving her family completely devastated and demanding justice.
Eighteen-year-old Aaliyah Norton of Kurukuru, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, who received injuries about her body, succumbed to her injuries on Friday evening, almost two weeks after the vehicle in which she was travelling was involved in an accident.
Reports are that the motor car was proceeding west along the southern side of the road, when an unknown vehicle, which was coming from the opposite direction, overtook another vehicle and ended up in the path of the vehicle the young lady was in.
Upon seeing this, the driver of the car allegedly pulled south to avoid a collision and the right side back tyre blew out.
As a result, the driver reportedly lost control, resulting in the vehicle toppling over and ending up in a trench.
In addition to her head injuries, both of the young lady’s arms were dislocated and she also suffered injuries to her kidneys.
When this publication visited the home of the dead teen on Tuesday, her sister, Olivia Norton, recalled what transpired on that unfortunate day.
“When the accident happened, one of the boys that was in there with her, he call me at 9:39 pm (21:39h) that Sunday night when the accident done happen… he say Olivia, Aaliyah deh home? He talk so normal like nothing didn’t happen… he ask me if she was home and I said no, he ask me if I was sure and I said no…”, she explained.
The dead teen’s sister said following the phone call, she waited hours for her sister to return home but she never did. It was at about 02:00h on Monday, November 23, that a neighbour informed her that her sister was involved in an accident.
“We heard that when the car toppled over, she get blackout or something. The boy that went in the accident with she, he said he could remember pulling out Aaliyah and everybody from the car and they all decided to run,” she said.
Olivia told this publication that their family was told that a relative of the driver of the motor car that her sister was in saw the accident while passing the area, and stopped to enquire because he knew the vehicle.
Upon inquiring, the man saw her sister’s ponytail floating in the nearby trench, and went to investigate.
It was then the man realised that the teen was submerged in the water. She was immediately pulled out and rushed to the GPHC where she was admitted as a patient, and was showing signs of improvement.
Aaliyah’s sister said she had regained consciousness and was responding to her family members. She said her entire family was positive that the teen was going to make a full recovery, but they were proven wrong.
“My sister had big plans, she wanted to become a doctor, I don’t have no other sister. It is me and her alone. We had it hard in life, and to know that my father struggled to take care of us and now she just gone, it is heartbreaking,” the grieving sister said.
The driver who is responsible for the accident has not yet been identified.
However, the family expressed disappointment about the teen’s friends running from the scene following the accident, leaving her behind. They are hoping that one day, justice will be served.
