Belmopan woman killed in highway crash
The crash of two boats at Placencia was not the weekend’s only fatal accident. A collision around seven-forty Sunday morning on the Western Highway claimed the life of a Belmopan woman and severely injured her child.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Police say forty-three year old Roy Alex Bennett, a Guatemalan National, who was driving this Prado S.U.V. lost control between miles forty-six and forty-seven and collided into this Geo Metro car driven at the time by thirty-one year old Mary Banman. Banman, who was travelling with her three young children, ages three, eight and ten years old, and an eleven year old, suffered severe head injuries and died in the accident. Eight-year-old Tracy Banman remains in a very serious condition at Belize Medical Associates.
Albert Penner, Close Family friend
?She is critical. I don?t sure if she is all unconscious or sometimes a little bit conscious, but she?s in intensive care, so…?
Jacqueline Woods
?How are the other children dealing with this accident because there were so many of them in the vehicle??
Albert Penner
?I visited the oldest daughter, she was kinda amazingly alright, she has only pain in her upper legs, both legs, but otherwise she?s fine. Her small brother, he was sleeping when I saw him.?
Today family and friends gathered at the hospital. According to Elvin Penner, it is not the first time that a Mennonite family has lost a member due to road traffic accident and it is about time something is done to make the highways more safe to travel.
Elvin Penner, Cousin
?Almost anytime a rain comes down somebody crashes exactly on that curve. There?re two problems: one is that the road is straight for so many miles before they get to the curve, so they probably don?t realise what their speed is at the time and they go around the curve too fast. And the second major problem is they use white stone to pave that road. When they resurfaced it they used white stone and there is nothing worse than having a curve paved with white stone. The white stone is a much softer stone, so the edges of the crushed stone get rounded really quick, so it?s just almost like ice. So what we would request, and a thousand other people would request, is that they resurface the road.?
Police say the road?s wet conditions may have contributed to the accident. Bennett?s seven year old son, who was travelling along with his father, also remains at B.M.A. with head injuries. Bennett has been charged for the crimes of manslaughter by negligence, driving without due care and attention, and two counts of negligent grievous harm. Today the Mennonite community mourns the loss of Banman, who they say was truly an outstanding mother and wife.
Elvin Penner
?She was always the one who made the kids happy, who made the visitors happy–she just added spice to the family. She definitely is going to be very, very much missed by her kids, by her husband, and all her friends and family. ?
News Five understands that Bennett was offered bail of five thousand dollars, which he met. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.
We are informed that Bennett holds a position at the Guatemalan Embassy, but we could not ascertain whether he is an accredited diplomat with immunity from prosecution.
