The Mother of Accident Victim Roderick Wade Speaks Out

Rodrick Wade

Rodrick Wade was seriously injured in a road traffic accident on Tuesday in Belize City. He was heading to work on motorcycle when he was hit by a van. Since then he has been hospitalized and the prognosis is that he will be bedridden for at six months meaning he will not be able to work. His family tells News Five that the process is going at a snail’s pace. Here is News Five’s Duane Moody with a report.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Legal Aid employee, twenty-six-year-old Rodrick Wade remains bed-ridden inside the surgical ward of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital recovering from injuries to the back and the pelvic bone. The prognosis is that Wade is going to need a therapy and will be away from work for at least six months, as he recovers.

Audrey Perez, Mother of Accident Victim

“He has an injury to his back, his face is swollen, his eyes are black and blue; he has a fracture to his hip, ih pelvis bone has a fracture and in his spine, he is feeling more pain so he can’t walk right now. The doctor said that he is going to do a lot of therapy and he is going to be bedridden for six months.”

Duane Moody

“So he won’t be able to work?”

Audrey Perez

“No, for six months dehn di give ahn fi make ih could rest and heal back.”

On Tuesday morning, Wade left his house in the Belama Phase Three area en route to work on his motorcycle. As he travelled on Albert Hoy Avenue and neared its junction with Alejo Beni Street, a van, driven at the time by Braylon Arnold collided into Wade. The impact sent Wade crashing into the bumper of another vehicle that came to a stop to give way to traffic. Audrey Perez says she got the call just minutes after Roderick left home.

Audrey Perez

“My oldest son gave me a call and said mother Roderick has been knocked down. I asked how serious it serious and he said, “Ma, well ih can’t move.” I still neva mi think that serious until I gone out there and see for myself. Ih get a cut ina ih back, ih mi di bleed through ih nose, through ih mouth and he was right there about forty-five minutes on the ground and can’t do nothing fi himself.”

For the next six months, Wade will not be able to work and Perez is asking for some assistance from the driver.

Audrey Perez

Audrey Perez

“The police has visited me, but all they came for was his driver’s license and his insurance. And I asked them because they said rumours were going out that my son had been released and I said no, he is still at the hospital. So I asked the police officer if they went to the hospital to see my son; they said yes. And when I went back to the hospital and asked my son if any police gone there gone look for me, he said no mother, nobody went to look for him.  I would like the driver to be charged and help us with the expense because six months dah wah lotta months fi make he just sit there and relax. And with the therapy, I di take wah lick because I have to deh up and down and I really can’t do that by myself right now.”

Arnold has been served with a notice of intended prosecution, but charges have not been levelled since police are yet to obtain a statement from Wade. Duane Moody for News Five.