By Michael Jordan
An eyewitness has positively identified the owner of an impounded car as the individual who was behind the wheel when missing accident victim Reonol Williams was struck down on the Enmore public road, East Coast Demerara (ECD) two Mondays ago.
The eyewitness, who is Williams’ friend, said he was able to pick the driver out of seven other individuals who were in the police line-up.
Investigators had initially told the eyewitness he would have to wait “until a body is found” before being allowed to try to identify the suspect.
Despite the positive identification, a police official has confirmed that the owner of the car, who is an Enmore DJ, was released the same day (last Saturday) on $300,000 station bail and police have his passport. He had been in custody for almost five days. The Investigators have consulted with the Police Legal Advisor on how to proceed with their case.
Big Smith News watch was told that so far, police have not found any security camera footage of the accident, or where the culprit might have disposed of the badly injured man.
The owner is claiming that someone took his vehicle from his premises without his knowledge.
He had allegedly left his car parked on his premises, and his gate was reportedly locked.
Police appear to hold out little hope of finding Williams alive.
“TELL ME WHERE TO FIND HIS BODY”
Silvie Williams, one of the missing man’s sisters, has issued an impassioned plea for the driver to say where he dumped her brother.
“Let me know where my brother’s body is, so I can do the last rites and have him buried. He is a human, not a dog. I want my brother’s body.”
“I want to tell the person who struck my brother down to be a human, not a beast,” a frustrated Silvie Williams said.
Relatives have searched seawall areas, hospitals, and even mortuaries in the hope of finding the 50-year-old labourer.
Reonol Williams, called ‘Willo,’ a labourer of Enmore, East Coast Demerara, was struck at around 1.30 A.M. two Mondays ago, reportedly while crossing the Enmore Public road on his way home.
The friend who was with him said Williams was “barely breathing,” his entire head was bloodied, and his left arm appeared to have been broken.
The driver and a female minibus passenger (and not an occupant of the car as was previously reported) put him in the car and the driver allegedly promised to take him to hospital.
He never did.
SECOND EYEWITNESS
Big Smith News Watch has contacted a hire car driver who also saw when another car struck Williams.
He said that he had picked up Williams and another man from Georgetown and dropped them off at Enmore two Mondays ago.
They exited and Williams was crossing the Enmore public road, when the hire car driver heard an approaching driver blowing on his horn. The car, which was coming from the direction of Georgetown, struck Williams.
This second eyewitness said the driver who had struck Williams exited and sought help from the occupants of a minibus to get the injured man in to his vehicle.
The eyewitness alleged that a woman came out of the bus and helped to hoist Williams into ‘the trunk’ of the car that had struck him.
He said the car then headed in the direction of Georgetown. The friend who had told Big Smith News Watch that the driver had promised to take Williams to “the Melanie (Damihsana) Hospital.”
A staffer at the Melanie Damishana Health Centre had said that no accident victim turned up at the institution.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Meanwhile, some key questions remain.
*Did the police find blood, or evidence of possible bloodstains in the car?
*If so, have they taken DNA samples from any of Mr. Williams’ relatives for a possible match?
*Has the car owner said who else would have access to his car and gate keys?
*If so, has that individual been detained?
*Where was he when the car was allegedly taken from his premises?