Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
With his life upended by the death of his wife in a fatal road accident, a grieving husband is pleading for increased police patrols to curb the growing number of deaths along the Solomon Hochoy Highway.
Dudnath and Joan Ramgoolam were both injured when a vehicle slammed into the back of their Toyota Prado last Saturday. Though both initially survived, Joan, a mother of two, died in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the San Fernando General Hospital just hours after Dudnath was discharged on Sunday. It was the last time he spoke to his wife, whom he had hoped would soon return to their Williamsville home.
“She was not responding much, but she understood that it was her husband who was there and was talking to her. She opened her eyes. She was shaking her head, and that, more or less, was the response she gave to me,” Dudnath said about visiting his wife at the ICU.
He told her he would go home to shower and return that afternoon. But around 1 pm, the call came. Now the family is awaiting an autopsy today.
Despite his swollen hip and pain throughout his body, Dudnath spent yesterday preparing his home for his wife’s funeral.
He recalled that he and his wife were returning from an evening out in Chaguanas and heading south along the highway around 1.30 am. As they approached the Gasparillo Interchange, a vehicle ploughed into the back of their SUV. The impact flung Joan out of the vehicle and into the median as the Prado flipped six times before coming to a stop in the northbound lane.
“Well, there is the speed limit for some people, and there is none for some... I was driving about 60–65 in a Toyota Prado, which can go up to 100, and the way he crashed into that big Prado and capsized it so many times, he had to be driving more than 140,” Dudnath said.
He managed to climb through a window and fell onto the roadside. As he made his way across the highway, he heard Joan crying out.
“All she was saying was, ‘Krishna, help me. Please help.’”
Passing motorists stopped to assist until the Fire Service and ambulance crews arrived and took the couple to the San Fernando General Hospital. By the time Joan arrived at the hospital, Dudnath said, she was no longer conscious.
He has yet to hear anything from the police regarding the driver of the other vehicle. However, motorists who had stopped told him the driver had been speeding recklessly as he overtook them earlier that morning. One driver reported seeing the vehicle racing moments before it crashed into the Ramgoolams’ SUV. Dudnath said he heard no screeching brakes and later saw no tyre marks.
Yesterday, Dudnath visited the police station to retrieve his house keys and search for his SUV, but he received no updates.
