A 53-year-old businessman died in a vehicular accident along the Uriah Butler Highway in Valsayn on Monday.
Martin Hatem, a director of the popular Woodford Café restaurant and lounge, was heading south along the highway in his Kia Sportage SUV around 2.30 pm when the incident happened.
Police said Hatem lost control of his vehicle mere metres after coming over the Valsayn Interchange and is believed to have hit a lampost. The vehicle then flipped several times before coming to a stop in the middle of the highway, opposite Bick’s Auto at Bamboo No 3.
Other nearby motorists rushed to assist Hatem, who was the only occupant in the vehicle. However, he died at the scene.
Hatem was a former operations manager of Sports and Games Limited and was also a popular DJ under the alias High Fidelity in his younger days. He managed the Chaguanas branch of the business at Price Plaza.
Yesterday evening, the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCIC) extended condolences to the relatives of Hateem.
A distraught CCIC president Richie Sookhai told Guardian Media that he had had a conversation with Hatem about the return to normal operations for businesses with the lifting of the major COVID-19 restrictions yesterday.
“I spoke with Martin earlier today concerning the removal of restrictions and I called him later in the afternoon to discuss some problems that people were having with liquor licenses. However, he did not answer my second call. I had not realised that tragedy had struck and he passed away,” Sookhai said.
He added, “Martin was one a major figure in the Chaguanas business community and was always willing to assist the community. His business, like many, suffered a hard blow during the pandemic and he was optimistic that things would get going again. His loss is a sad blow. Many would have remembered him as DJ High Fidelity in his younger days.”
—With reporting by
SHASTRI BOODAN
