A bridal shower outing turned deadly for one of six friends on Saturday evening after the car they were travelling in lost control and slammed into the recently renovated bridge at the Liliendaal Railway and Embankment, Greater Georgetown.
Dead is 36-year-old Debra Pompey, an employee attached to Medicare Pharmacy and of Lot 473 Belle West Housing Scheme, Canal No. 2 Polder, West Bank Demerara. Her sister, Tushanna Hubbard, 26, is among those injured in the wreckage and are currently hospitalised at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
The others have been identified as Rodlyn Grace, 20, of Lot 74 Blyzeight Gardens, Greater Georgetown; Shameica Martin, 18, of Lot 84 Sideline Dam, Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara; Saskiya Boyer, 30, of Lot 228 Lodge, Georgetown, and Petona Welcome, 27, of Lot 391 Austin Street, Campbellville, Georgetown.
According to reports received, the accident occurred sometime around 23:40h as the group of six women were heading home from a night out at the Giftland Mall. INews understands that one of the friends was getting married this coming weekend.
After partying, the women left the night spot and were heading to Georgetown with Welcome behind the wheels of the silver-grey motor car, bearing registration number PSS 7195.
“(They were) proceeding west along the southern driveway allegedly at a fast rate when she lost control of the vehicle, which collided with the southern rail of the Liliendaal Bridge,” police said in a statement on Sunday.
They noted too that the driver was tested and found to be above the legal blood alcohol limit. Welcome, who suffered a fractured left arm, was treated and discharged from the hospital. She is currently in custody assisting with the investigation.
The car which they were in belonged to a 28-year-old resident of Princess and Chappel Streets, Lodge.
Pompey’s young sister remains hospitalised nursing two broken legs. The injured woman related to this newspaper from her hospital bed that they had gone out to celebrate her best friend’s bridal shower. They were at a night spot at the Giftland Mall and had left to go home when the accident occurred.
“We were leaving and while on the East Coast, all I really recall is that the driver swerve and that was it,” Hubbard stated. She is expected to undergo surgery sometime this week.
Meanwhile, the mother of the two sisters, Jennifer Clyne, told reporters that her two daughters left to go out with their friends and sometime around midnight, she got a call about the accident.
“I thought they (daughters) were calling me to open the door for them so i didn’t look at the number, I just answered and walk to the door. But then a guy came on and say that my daughter was in an accident and break her foot,” the woman recalled.
She continued that she did not wait for the person to say anything more, she immediately left to go to the hospital. However, by the time they arrived at the medical institution in the city, it was too late as Pompey had already died.
The woman added that she only observed that a broken ankle on one of the feet of her eldest daughter, noting that they are awaiting a post mortem examination to determine the cause of death. This is expected to be conducted sometime today.
