A 38-year-old housewife and her two(2)-year-old grandson are now dead after the boat they were travelling inside of hit the left bank of the river and capsized.
The deceased have been identified as Agatha Gill of Friendship Canal, Lower Pomeroon, and her grandson who also resided at the same address.
The wooden balahoo vessel was being operated by Gill’s 42-year-old husband, Riley Gill, who had been highly intoxicated when the incident took place.
HGP Nightly News was told that the boat mishap occurred on Friday (yesterday) between 23:30h and 00:00h.
Reports are that around 20:00h on the night in question, the now dead woman had left her residence to consume alcohol with some of her friends at Bum Bush, Lower Pomeroon River, in the company of her husband and grandson.
Gill’s husband told the cops that while he, his wife and their grandchild had been returning home, he entered the Friendship Canal and a coconut husk hit the engine’s propeller.
At that time, he had been highly intoxicated, and he stated that as a result of the coconut husk hitting the propeller, he lost control of the engine’s handle and this in turn caused the vessel to hit the edge of the left bank of the river.
The boat then capsized, trapping both his wife and grandson underneath.
According to a police statement, the man tried to pull the now dead woman and child from under the boat but his efforts proved futile.
“He then called for help and a group of public spirited citizens came to his rescue to assist in turning the boat over after which Riley Gill then pulled out his wife and his grandchild from underneath the boat in an unconscious state.”
He was then assisted by a male in rushing his wife and their grandson to the Oscar Joseph District Hospital but when they arrived there, the woman and child were pronounced dead on arrival.
“Their bodies were also seen and examined by the Police but no marks of violence were seen on their bodies nor no foul play suspected. The bodies of the deceased were then escorted to the Suddie Public Hospital Mortuary awaiting a Post Mortem Examination (PME).”
The man is currently in police custody at the Charity Police Station, Essequibo, as investigations into the matter continue.
