By Travis Chase | HGP Nightly News|
PROVIDENCE, GUYANA — Serious questions continue to swirl around Saturday afternoon’s deadly three-vehicle smash-up on the Providence Public Road, East Bank Demerara, following the release of the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) preliminary findings. While accident investigators have laid total blame on a motor lorry for cutting into the path of an oncoming Route 42 minibus, the official police report has remained entirely silent on persistent claims from eye-witnesses that the minibus was travelling at a reckless, excessive rate of speed.
The horrific collision, which occurred at approximately 17:00 hrs near the Guyana National Stadium, claimed the life of 36-year-old Ruddy Raymond, a resident of Jonestown, Lima, Essequibo Coast, who was a passenger in the minibus. The impact also left the minibus driver and seven other passengers with severe injuries, paralyzing traffic along one of the East Bank’s busiest commercial corridors.
According to the initial police reconstruction, a Route 42 minibus, registration BAH 9443, driven by 31-year-old Colin Cumberbatch of Kitty, Georgetown, was proceeding north along the eastern driving lane of the western carriageway. Concurrently, a motor lorry, registration GAF 1093, driven by 55-year-old Kord Sobers of La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara, was heading north along the adjacent western driving lane.
Investigators allege that the motor lorry suddenly executed a sharp right turn, crossing lanes directly into the path of the northbound minibus. The minibus slammed heavily into the right side of the truck, ricocheted into the concrete median, and crossed onto the eastern carriageway. The out-of-control vehicle then toppled onto its side, sliding and flipping repeatedly across the opposite lane before colliding head-on with a southbound motor car, PJJ 1664, driven by a 28-year-old resident of Diamond.
Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) rushed to the scene, where Raymond was examined and pronounced dead on the pavement. The driver of the car and his 23-year-old female passenger escaped with minor injuries, while the surviving minibus occupants were rushed to the Diamond Regional Hospital for urgent treatment. Breathalyzer tests performed on the lorry driver returned negligible readings of 0.003% and 0.004%.
Despite the state’s narrow focus on the lorry’s improper lane change, private surveillance and CCTV footage circulating on social media tell a more complex, volatile story. The video captures the moment the lorry initiated its turn, but it simultaneously reveals the approaching minibus barreling down the inner lane at a high velocity, leaving the driver with absolutely zero reaction time or distance to safely apply his brakes.
Critics and eyewitnesses are now accusing traffic ranks of issuing a one-sided preliminary report that completely glosses over the systemic culture of speeding among minibus operators—a contributing factor that likely magnified the deadly physical impact of the crash.
The legal consequences of the tragedy accelerated rapidly on Monday, as both Kord Sobers and Colin Cumberbatch were brought before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrate’s Court. Both drivers were slapped with indictable charges of Causing Death by Dangerous Driving under Section 35(1) of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act. Neither man was required to enter a plea, and Magistrate Latchman promptly remanded both defendants to prison. The high-profile case has been adjourned to July 10, 2026, for report, as investigators face mounting public pressure to address the dual roles of dangerous lane-changing and unchecked speeding along the East Bank highway.
