A Penal grandmother is pleading with the driver who knocked down her grandson to come forward and take responsibility for it. Polly Rampersad said on November 3, her grandson, Khemraj Rampersad, 11, was hit by a white van along the Penal Rock Road which left him with a broken arm and injuries to his head and face.She said the driver drove off and left him bleeding on the street and a taxi driver took the child to the hospital.Rampersad said people witnessed the accident but no one wanted to come forward and help the police identify the driver who is said to be an influential man in the community."We are poor people. I do not want to get into any trouble but who ever do this to my grandson cannot get away with it," she added.
She said she took care of Khemraj, a Standard Five student of Penal Rock Road Presbyterian School because his mother, who also has twin daughters, has a disability."I get public assistance to mind that boy. I take care of him, his sisters and his mother. I have to be running up and down to the hospital and this man who bounce down my grandson happy."My grandson is in Standard Five. He has to write exams (SEA) next year. He is missing out on school and I don't know how the lash to his head would affect him."That man cannot get away with that. He has to take responsibility," she said.
Rampersad explained that around 5.30 pm last Monday Khemraj had just got out of a taxi, which stopped to let him cross the road to get to his home, which was on the other side.She said at the same time, the driver of a white van overtook a line of traffic and hit Khemraj, who fell to the ground.The taxi driver and other witnesses took him to the Siparia District Health Facility. He was later transferred to the San Fernando Teaching Hospital.A report was made to the Penal Police Station. An officer said a man who was identified as the person who struck the child turned up at the station and said he was not responsible for the accident.