Latest update April 23rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 07, 2009 News
– Would have celebrated 16th birthday on Saturday
– Sister critical
A 15-year-old girl was killed at around 20:00 hrs yesterday after a speeding car she was in smashed into a utility pole near Grove on the East Bank of Demerara.
Onika Holder, of Lot 135 Eastville, Housing Scheme, Annandale, East Coast Demerara, sustained extensive injuries after she was flung from the car.
The teenager sustained multiple fractures to the skull and was pronounced dead at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
Two of the deceased girl’s siblings were injured in the mishap.
Shanice Gardner, 22, of Annandale, East Coast Demerara, was first treated at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), suffering from a suspected fracture of the neck. Rolex Holder, aged nine, was treated at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre but was also taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital with a broken right arm.
The driver of the car, identified as 25-year-old Christopher Vasconcellos, of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, escaped sustained minor injuries.
He was detained at the Grove Police Station and later taken to a medical facility to be tested to ascertain whether he was driving under the influence of alcohol.
The occupants were reportedly returning from a creek on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway when the tragedy occurred.
According to reports, Vasconscellos had just driven across a bridge near the Grove Public Road when he lost control and crashed headlong into a utility pole, snapping it in two. It was reportedly at this point that Onika Holder was ejected from the vehicle.
The car then careened onto an empty lot.
A resident told Kaieteur News that he was in his home when he heard the screech of brakes and a resounding crash.
On rushing outside, he saw the wrecked vehicle, and a female, later identified as Onika Holder, lying motionless on the ground.
The resident said that he and others assisted in freeing the remaining passengers from the car.
He recalled that the driver was standing outside the vehicle and appeared to be unhurt.
A police vehicle eventually arrived and took the injured occupants and the driver away.
According to the man, the driver alleged that he had lost control after swerving from another vehicle.
Noel Holder, the father of the dead teen told Kaieteur News last night that his children left home yesterday around midday to go to the creek.
“They were going with their big sister (not injured) and her fiancé.”
Holder, who is the pastor at the Arundel Buxton Congregational Church, said that the trip was not pre-planned, since the family was scheduled to attend a tea party at the church.
“They went this morning (to church) and prepared for the tea party. But they all wanted to go with their sister and I bent a little bit… it’s the tea party they were supposed to have gone to today, not to any sightseeing. It’s the first time I bent and this tragedy struck, said Noel Holder who admitted that he felt a bit guilty.
Holder said that they were supposed to return home at around 19:00 hours.
“When I saw seven reach I begin calling the phone, no answer. I called all of the phones that I knew that they had, no response.”
Eventually he received a call from his eldest daughter informing him that they were involved in an accident.
But before he could ask what had happened, the line went dead.
A few minutes later, he got another call from his daughter, and this time she told him that her sister Onika had a problem, and again the phone line went dead before Holder could ascertain what had happened.
He left his home and journeyed to the Georgetown Hospital where he met his eldest daughter and enquired from her what had transpired.
“She said the children are not here they are at Diamond (Diagnostic Centre). So I headed up to Diamond and to butt up with the sister who had died,” Holder recalled.
“The last thing I told the driver was to take care of my children. I even asked him if the rain was falling in Georgetown and he said no. If he had said to me that rain was falling in town I would have changed my mind from them going.
But I spoke to my big daughter and told her that she had to be responsible for the younger ones… and this is the responsible thing that I get,” he added ruefully.
He described Onika as a loving child who was scheduled to celebrate her 16th birthday this Saturday.
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