Just a week after purchasing a sports utility vehicle, Reon Ragoobir lost his life after he was thrown from the van during an early morning accident near Gasparillo yesterday.
Ragoobir, 31, a small ceiling contractor of Cipero Road, Friendship Village, San Fernando, died on the scene. He was the only person in the vehicle.
Police said shortly after 12 am, Raboobir was heading south along the Solomon Hochoy Highway when he lost control of the vehicle, which ran off the road and crashed. His father-in-law Tota Harricharan, a retired police inspector, said Ragoobir left home around 8 pm to go to Couva to visit his friends. He was originally from Milton Village, Couva, where he lived with his parents. He married Harricharan's daughter Ria Harricharan-Ragoobir four years ago and moved in with his in-laws. They have a four-year-old daughter.
Harricharan recalled, “About 12.30 this morning we get a call from the police, in fact, my daughter got a call from the police, she woke me up and we went up on the highway. He was actually lying on the roadway still. What we heard is that he was driving down the road and the car flip about three times and he fly out onto the roadway."
Haricharan said his son-in-law was not a heavy drinker.
"He used to take a drink, one drink, but no set of heavy drinking. He was a responsible man." He said the vehicle was not brand new but it was in good condition.
"He only buy that van last week. He accustomed driving that van all over the place."
Describing Ragoobir as a hardworking and quiet person, Harricharan said he was looking forward to celebrating his child's birthday on May 29.
"Things were planned already, they going to have a lil bouncy castle, a magician, food, cake right here.”
Harricharan said his daughter, a nurse, had gone to the mortuary at the San Fernando General Hospital to try to organise the paperwork early so they could plan for the funeral. Investigations are continuing.
