Man dies in accident after vowing to stop driving

ELIZABETH GONZALES

Mary Dematias- Khan recalled how she begged her husband Mohammed Khan, 85, to stop driving, one day after he died in a three-car smash up near the Signal Hill traffic lights. Speaking with Newsday Tobago on Tuesday at their Government House Road home, she said, “I used to beg him almost every morning not to go, not to go. This is a great loss for me. It’s me alone now.”

Dematias-Khan and Khan had been married for 59 years and lived in Tobago for 30 years. Khan was a dry goods retailer and would distribute the goods to his clients around Tobago. The morning of the accident, on Monday, he was heading to Carnbee to do business. The couple did not have any children but enjoyed the company of their neighbour. Close to tears, Dematias- Khan added, “If we take our time on the roads, this would have never happened. han used to take his time on the road, who want to pass him, he used to let them pass but he would take it easy all the time.”

Kenneth Guy, who was also at the family home, described Khan’s death as tragic. He told Newsday Tobago, “he (Mohammed) told me this year that he was giving up driving completely next year. He said he’s going to be 86 and he don’t think he can continue to manage driving every day.”

Guy added, “everyone know him as my daddy. I was like their child and he (Mohammed) always told me that if he dies to bury him the next day but, I can’t do that because we have to wait for the hospital and the hospital say they need to wait on the police.”

Dematias- Khan further stated, “I don’t want back that car. I don’t even want to see a car. I stopped drive years ago because I couldn’t take the craziness on the road – these young drivers. Look an innocent life and husband was grabbed from me. Just by looking at that car you could see that the wheel pinned him and the impact killed him.”

She dismissed information circulating on social media claiming one of Khan’s legs was seen on the road side . She said she felt him and both legs were still attached to his body.

She said he will he buried in Trinidad as he is a Muslim but was unable to follow the religious laws to bury him within 24 hours because she was told a pathologist needs to come from Trinidad to conduct the autopsy.

On Monday, Asher Benjamin of Falcon Drive, Sou Sou Lands was heading east along the Claude Noel Highway in a Toyota Yaris, at 6.30 am when he attempted to overtake a vehicle using the shoulder but came upon a parked vehicle.

Benjamin pulled sharply to avoid hitting the parked vehicle but lost control of the vehicle which began to skid uncontrollably and collided with a blue Mitsubishi Lancer driven by Khan. Khan was taken to the Scarborough General Hospital, however, he passed at 9.30 am on Monday.