Caption: Pundit Kavish Veda Persad
A teenage pundit died on Tuesday night, the third vehicular death to occur that day.
Police reports are that around 10 pm, Pundit Kavish Veda Persad, of San Juan, was driving a white Hyundai Ioniq east along the Beetham Highway at a high rate of speed, when he attempted to overtake a brown Mitsubishi vehicle.
However, both drivers lost control of their vehicles and Persad’s car struck the Beetham water main, went airborne, and landed in the nearby Laventille River.
The other vehicle landed in a grassy area.
On Tuesday, his father Pundit Maniedeo Persad had congratulated his son on social media on receiving his Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) results.
His father posted, “Congratulations to Pundit Kavish Veda Persad on his outstanding achievement 5 Grade I and One Grade II at Upper Six Cape exams June 2025. We are all very proud of your success. Congratulations.”
In 2019, the younger Persad was recognised by the Ministry of Education as one of the Top 200 students in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) Examination.
In 2023, he received Grade Is in all eight Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects.
Persad death is the third road fatality to occur on Tuesday following the deaths of Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) bus driver Mustapha Khan and passenger Roxanne Phillip, a security officer attached to SWAT earlier along the Solomon Hochoy Highway in the vicinity of Freeport.
