14-year-old dies after motorcycle collides with horse

A 14-year-old Skeldon High School student of Number 52 Village, Corentyne, died on Saturday morning after the motorcycle on which he was the pillion rider collided with a horse along the Number 50 Village Public Road. Dead is Giresh Lautan, the eldest of three children of 30-year-old single mother, Anita Taman. Taman said she had no knowledge that her son had left home and only learnt that something had happened when she received a telephone call informing her that he had been involved in an accident. According to the mother, her sister’s husband, who is Giresh’s uncle, had taken the teenager on the motorcycle without informing her. She said this occurred at around 03:30h on Saturday morning. She explained that Giresh and his uncle maintained contact through a game they played and that she was unaware when the teenager left with him. After receiving word of the accident, Taman said she went to the hospital, where she saw her son’s body.

According to Taman, there was blood around the teenager’s face and nose, and she also observed what appeared to be an injury to one side of his head. “He was a quiet person. He went to school. He didn’t leave the house alone,” she said.

Taman, who works to provide for her three children, said Giresh was her eldest, leaving her with two younger children to care for. When asked about the fact that the motorcycle rider was her brother-in-law and how the incident might affect the family, Taman responded: “All I care about is my son.” She also said she wanted justice for the 14-year-old. According to Taman, her brother-in-law was hospitalised following the accident, but she could not say what his condition was. Taman additionally expressed concern about animals being on the roadway. She said that when she subsequently visited the scene of the accident, she saw blood on the roadway but nothing which, from her observation, indicated that a horse had been there. Police have since launched an investigation.