Double trouble for motor accident victim

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

As pedestrians the amount of faith one has in motorists who share the same road is not little. The safety and the vulnerability of a person who crosses a road may entirely lie in the hands of a trustworthy, honest driver with a clear mindset.

S. H. Dayaratne

However, one bizarre incident reported last week even shook the legal fraternity involved in that case.

It was around half past five in the morning on Saturday, January 18. S. H. Dayaratne a 65-year-old heart patient who was advised by his doctors to take a daily morning walk left home as usual with the intention of buying the morning newspapers on his return. The first rays of the rising sun could be seen on the gloomy sky over the area.

Dayaratne left his house at St. Rita's Road, Mount Lavinia and was walking briskly across the Galle Road. Within seconds a loud noise from a speeding vehicle being forced to stop was heard followed by a heavy thud.

An elderly man preparing his small tea kiosk on the other side of the Galle Road for a new day rushed out to see the cause of the loud noise. To his amazement he saw a man being knocked down by a car which is still in the scene. Several other bystanders who came running to the scene found that the pedestrian was badly hit by the motor car. The person on the ground was bleeding from the head and in some state of unconsciousness.

Bewildered

The bystanders quickly attended to the injured man whilst asking the driver of the vehicle to take him to the nearest hospital as soon as possible. The driver who also seemed to be in a bewildered state had obeyed without objection. Dayaratne had been knocked down by a car that was travelling towards Ratmalana from Colombo on the Galle Road. Amidst the eagerly waiting onlookers the motorist had started to travel towards the same direction instead of taking a sharp U turn to go towards Colombo as wished by the bystanders that the nearest hospital was the Colombo South Teaching Hospital in Kalubowila. Instead the motorist moved forward about hundred yards and turned into Pirivena Road on the left and disappeared. Out of suspicion the old man in charge of the kiosk had taken down the vehicle registration number of the yellow colour Toyota Camry that bore the number KC 4552.

Uneasy

In the meantime Dayaratne's wife who was uneasy as her husband did not come home usually at 6.30 am tried calling him on his mobile phone which continued ringing without an answer. Dayaratne who underwent a heart surgery about two weeks ago had been advised by the doctors to take a walk in the morning to maintain his physique. Concerning this condition the wife and the children started to panic and set off looking for him in a trishaw. Dayaratne's wife and his son-in-law Dasun traversed the usual route he would take whilst they were still trying his mobile phone.

Around 7 0'clock somebody picked up the line and said that he is from Mount Lavinia Police and that they have found the phone near the small tea kiosk following an accident. Dayaratne's family sped to the scene of the accident where they were told about the horrific story by the kiosk owner.

Whilst they were putting Dayaratne into the vehicle his mobile phone had fallen on the road which had later been picked by the man at the kiosk. With this revelation the family had rushed to Kalubowila Hospital with the anticipation of finding him there. But to their utter despair Dayaratne was not at the hospital. With growing hopes of checking the patient at Lunawa Hospital they were about to leave the hospital when a speeding ambulance brought in Dayaratne to the Kalubowila Hospital.

The patient was immediately admitted to the Accident Service and then transferred to the Intensive Care Unit in a critical condition. The doctors who examined him told the family that the patient was both externally and internally bleeding in the head which was not a good sign. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth at the time of admission. Due to his medical history the doctors could not give him usual medicine that was given in a situation like that to minimise the bleeding. Instead they had to wait for some time, depending on other alternative drugs to pacify his condition.

In the meantime, the family learnt that Dayaratne had been picked up lying on Hena Road off Pirivena Road, which is not very populated. A neighbouring resident who had seen a man lying on the road had apparently informed Police 119 and an ambulance. The family came to know the ambulance belonged to a private company when they came for their payment on the following day. The ambulance people told they were informed by an unknown person about an injured man lying on the road.

When the family went to Mount Lavinia police they heard the weird story. The driver who took Dayaratne away from the accident scene had taken him to a by-road where he had allegedly dumped him on the road and fled. The driver who drove off surrendered to the police through his attorney during the latter part of the day and said when he was about to take the patient to the hospital the patient himself had asked him to drop him by the road saying he was feeling all right.

Because of that he had dropped him there and left the scene. But the doctors at Kalubowila Hospital told the family that considering the injuries he had received there was no chance of him recovering from his state of unconsciousness that early.

Investigations

Initial police investigations revealed that the driver was working in a senior managerial post in a leading pharmaceutical company in the country. He was produced before Mount Lavinia Magistrate Courts on January 18 and was ordered to be remanded until January 22.

When the case was first heard at the courts on January 22 the attorney appearing for the victim Athula S Ranagala told the Magistrate that this was a state which has gone far beyond the level of a normal hit and run accident.

It is not strange how a driver would flee the scene following an accident due to the confused state of mind or due to the fear that the bystanders would attack him which is a common sight in Asian countries such as Sri Lanka. But taking the patient with him and dropping him on the road and to leave with cold blood was an entirely different act.

The Magistrate who listened to the explanation postponed the case to January 27 and ordered the driver to be remanded. It is yet to be determined whether the suspect was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.

Dayaratne who is a proprietor of a drug distributing agency in Wellawatta is still being treated in a critical condition at the ICU with a 50 percent chance of survival according to the doctors. The agitated and distressed family members could not do much but wait with the anticipation of seeing their father coming back.

An offender of a hit and run accident can be penalised through the Motor Traffic Act as well as the Penal Code.

It is a must that the person has to surrender to the police with or without a lawyer, otherwise he may be categorised as an absconding criminal. Hit and run is considered a crime in most jurisdictions.

In 2013 only 1,193 hit and run cases have been reported countrywide especially from outstations where speed limits are high compared to the city limits. Out of this, 84 cases had been reported as fatal accidents. From January 1 to 21 of 2014 two fatal hit and run cases had been reported from Dankotuwa and Kochchikade areas.