RTA Victim Succumbs
Austin Olivera Jr.
Eleven-year-old Austin Olivera Junior has succumbed on Sunday night to injuries he received last Tuesday when he was knocked down by a tour guide near the Airport Road in Ladyville. Olivera, a student of Stella Maris, was on his way to school that morning when he was hit by a silver minivan while crossing the Phillip Goldson Highway. The vehicle was being driven at the time by sixty-two-year-old Errol Belisle who was heading in the opposite direction. Olivera received multiple injuries to his legs and head and remained comatose after what would have been a hit and run accident had witnesses not intervened by notifying Ladyville police. While Belisle was served a notice of intended prosecution, he was back on the road the following day shuttling visitors from the Fort Street Tourism Village. Here’s an interview we did with Austin Olivera Senior.
Austin Olivera Sr.
Austin Olivera Sr., Father of Accident Victim [File: March 17th, 2015]
“He was on his way to school. I worked last night and I came off this morning and when I was at home about ten past eight, the neighbor come and called me and he said, “Yoh son get knocked down. He’s at the B.D.F. hospital.” So urgently I jumped into my vehicle and went over to the B.D.F. hospital but on my way over there when I got there they told me that he had already come down in the ambulance. “So when I got here they’re explaining to me and telling me that the vehicle that hit the child was a van. The guy was from Belize City here but they did not release the name. But probably what happened [is that] he hit the child as he was leaving the site and what happened [was that] the people on the spot there saw the vehicle and, probably, I don’t know how they got in touch with the police and probably the police get the guy. They get the guy and they had the guy there. They didn’t release any name, who da di guy weh actually done this thing but according to the information, dah sohn guys from the cable company pick up di child and ker ahn da hospital because this guy was going. So I cyant understand how he wahn knock this child and actually lef ahn deh.”
Today, police say that Belisle will be charged with Manslaughter by Negligence.
