A mother who was planning her only son's wedding is mourning him after his car toppled several times and plunged into a trench in West Coast Berbice on Sunday night.

Afridi Rahaman, a 21-year-old mechanic, died along the No. 6 Public Road around 8:20pm. Police said he was driving motor car PAB 8323 west along the southern side of the roadway when he reportedly lost control while negotiating a right turn. The car crossed onto the northern side, toppled several times and came to rest in the trench.

Public-spirited citizens removed Rahaman and his front-seat passenger, his 19-year-old girlfriend Parveena Brijemal of Lot 39, Bath Settlement, and took them to the Bath Regional Hospital. Rahaman was unconscious on arrival and was pronounced dead by the doctor on duty. Brijemal was admitted for observation and is in stable condition.

Rahaman's mother, 56-year-old Waheeda Rahaman of Bath Foundation Road, said the family had been looking forward to his future and making plans for his wedding. She said a neighbour alerted her to the crash around 9pm, shortly after she returned from a wake.

“My opposite neighbour come over and said if I hear Afridi get accident. I told her no. And then I don't know what happened,” she said.

She went to the scene, but Rahaman had already been taken away. At the hospital, she saw blood around his head and was later told he had sustained a head injury.
“When I went back to the hospital, I see him on the stretcher. I can't believe that is my son right over there. That is my only son,” she said.

Waheeda, who has three daughters, described her son as quiet and respectful.

“He doesn't trouble anyone. He doesn't make fights with anyone. He is a very good son. I had a good son. My son is my life,” she said.
She said Brijemal later told her that Rahaman appeared to panic while trying to manoeuvre the steering in the moments before the crash.