Calls to revoke licence of teen involved in fatal crash

Senior Multimedia Reporter

radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Public calls are now being made for the Licensing authorities to revoke the licence of 19-year-old accident survivor Navin Bedassie, following the fatal crash that killed his girlfriend.

However, his mother Wahida Ramjass and relatives of Bedassie’s deceased girlfriend Kaylee Poonan, 17, have insisted he was not a reckless driver.

Bedassie, who survived Tuesday’s fatal crash that claimed Poonan’s life, has come under fire from the public. A day before she died, Poonan posted on Facebook saying: “No joke, mans drive like if I have extra lives.”

As further information about the accident circulated on social media as well, some members of the public called for the revocation of his licence.

Speaking yesterday from the San Fernando General Hospital, where her son is warded, Ramjass said she believed the “souped-up” Mitsubishi Evo-6 was defective, and her son could not handle the speed when he took it for a drive with Poonan on that fateful night.

“He only got that car a few days ago. If you look at the skid mark on the road, you can see that he was trying to brake. Maybe he could not control the speed. He would not deliberately do that to his girlfriend,” Ramjass insisted.

She also mentioned that two years ago, Bedassie had survived another crash that claimed the life of his friend Ron Mohammed, but she noted Bedassie was not the driver in that accident.

“He and Ron were sitting in the back seat, and another friend was driving. It was four of them. People believe that Navin caused that accident with Ron, but that is not true.”

Saying social media reports had brought even more grief to the family, Ramjass also denied Poonan was pregnant. She said Bedassie was fortunate to survive and hoped he would be discharged from the hospital in time to attend his girlfriend’s funeral.

Asked about his condition, Ramjass said, “He got some internal injuries. He is talking and moving. I am waiting for the doctors to come and tell us exactly what the internal injuries are.”

Thanking God for sparing her son’s life, Ramjass said when she got to the accident scene and saw the condition of the car, she immediately thought her beloved son and his girlfriend were dead.

“If you see the condition that car was in. When we saw it that night, we thought both of them were dead,” Ramjass said.

She added, “Kaylee’s family says if there is anybody to blame, it is not Navin. Kaylee used to go with him all over. Both of them loved that. The hardest part to deal with is the blame.”

She said she did not know who sold Bedassie the car.

“We do not know who sold it to him. He had an Almera, and then a few days ago, he sold the Almera and bought another one (Evo-6). We did not know he was going to buy that. When he brought it home, his father asked him whose car that was and if that was the kind of car he would buy,” Ramjass recalled.

She said Bedassie loved fast cars and attending car shows.

Police said at 6.30 pm on Tuesday, Bedassie, 19, was in a red Mitsubishi Lancer driving at high speed on the northbound carriageway of the Solomon Hochoy Highway, when the car ran off the road and collided with a pole near the Papourie Overpass. A video of the accident was posted on social media hours after the crash.

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