The family of Matthew Vanveen, a 52-year-old labourer killed in a late-night collision on April 18, is speaking out against an offered $3M settlement, calling it an insufficient response to the loss of a life. Maurice Menezes, of Lot 6 Public Road Coverden, reportedly drove a white Ford Raptor dangerously, resulting in the crash that killed Vanveen of Lot 51 Castello Housing Scheme, East Le Penitence. Menezes recently appeared before Magistrate Bess at the Diamond Magistrate’s Court, where he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and released on $300,000 GYD bail.
While legal proceedings are set to resume on June 20, Vanveen’s widow, Angela Shelly Ceaser is highlighting the disparity between the offered settlement by Menezes and the reality of a household that has lost its only source of income.
The widow detailed to Guyana Standard how the $3M offer was presented to cover immediate needs, yet she maintains that no such figure can account for the decades of support Vanveen would have provided or the loss they now experience. His widow also said that when she requested additional compensation to cover funeral costs, Menezes said he doesn’t have “a cent more to give”. As the sole breadwinner, Vanveen earned $20,000 GYD daily through contract labor and weeding, providing enough for his wife to leave her ten-year job at the Princess Hotel to care for their children.
The widow noted that the immediate costs of a funeral are dwarfed by the long-term struggle of raising three children, ages 14, 12, and 6, without their father’s wages or presence.
Compounding the family’s grief are allegations of negligence at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC). Ceaser recounted a harrowing five-hour ordeal in the emergency ward, where she claims medical staffer lacked urgency as her husband’s condition worsened. She described a scene of chaos where she had to rub her husband’s back while he vomited through his nose, pleading for doctors to intervene. According to the family, the delay in surgery was critical; they watched as other trauma victims, including a policeman with a gunshot wound to the head, were left to bleed. “That five hours he fighting for he life there… they could have do something,” she stated, expressing a bitter conviction that the medical system failed him after the dangerous driving had already broken him.
The emotional toll is perhaps most evident in the couple’s six-year-old daughter, who suffers from a tumor and chronic health issues. The child reportedly cries out daily for her father, unable to grasp that the man who “never failed them” is gone. As the “great society” of neighbors and friends in Castello Housing Scheme joins the family in mourning, the widow remains resolute that justice must involve more than a financial transaction. For a family now facing specialized medical bills and the loss of their primary protector, the upcoming June court date represents a search for true accountability in a tragedy they believe was entirely preventable.
