| -Road safety Council ChairmanChairman of the Guyana National Road Safety Council, Nigel Erskine is concerned about the spateRonville Roberts: His family accepted $2.5Mof cases in which relatives of road death victims are accepting financial compensation from the accused, even while the matter is before the courts.Over the years, the GNRSC as well as other organisations such as Mothers in Black have been expressing outrage about such compensation.Erskine is calling on families to allow the law to take its course. According to the law, Causing Death by Dangerous Driving is an indictable charge.“No amount of money can replace a life. There is no monetary value that can be put to a life,” the GNRSC Chairman said in a recent interview with Kaieteur News.“I do not agree with these families who accept money and in turn do not testify.”Attorney-at-law Murselene Bacchus said that Guyana’s laws are designed to allow the police to prosecute,http://www.soccerpro.us.com/Arsenal-FC/, even if monetary compensation is made.“One accepting money to settle the matter is a private arrangement. Even if that person says they will not offer evidence after collecting money, the court can summon that person to give evidence. If that person fails to show up in court, an arrest warrant can be issued for that witness,” Bacchus explained.He added that the Magistrate can also hold persons in contempt of court if they refuse to answer the questions that are put to them.“All of the legal mechanisms are in place, but at the end of the day it is up to our Magistrates to use the law that is available and it is up to the prosecuting body to ensure that the matter is properly prosecuted,”Also speaking on the issue, was former Magistrate Fazil Azeez who said that in many of these matters the presiding Magistrate uses his or her discretion. Azeez however pointed out that the law clearly provides for the full prosecution of any matter,Alexis Sanchez Arsenal Jersey UK, moreso,Alejandro Gomez Jersey, an indictable charge. He added that most Magistrates are influenced by two factors in these causing death charges.“For one, the Magistrate will look at the fact that the family has already lost a member who may be the breadwinner so monetary compensation is offered to that family and in most cases that family accepts, since in sometimes it cushions the loss.”Magistrate Azeez maintained that, by law, the court should proceed with the matter since the family of the victim has very little to do with the successful prosecution of the case.Another legal mind further told this publication that in most cases the relatives are required to offer a miniscule contribution in giving evidence in a Causing Death by Dangerous Driving charge.“The police should continue with any causing death matter once there is enough evidence to prosecute, but what you find happening is that by the relatives settling the matter, it means one less file for the police to deal with, but this ought not to be by law,”.“I find it callous on the part of relatives who collect monetary compensation, this is like saying you killed my son and your money can make things right.”Kaieteur News had highlighted several cases in which prosecution was halted after relatives collected sometimes paltry compensation for the death of their loved ones.In the court cases uncovered, six of the victims were children between the ages of seven and 17 years old. A seventh case involved a young mother.All the families, except one, admitted to having accepted money from the families of the errant drivers.The ‘compensation packages’ range from $5M for the death of the young mother, $600,000 for the death of an eight-year-old girl, and $300,000 for a seven-year-old girl killed on a pedestrian crossing.The accused drivers were all before the courts on causing death by dangerous driving charges. On August 16, 2009, seven-year-old Amisha Alli and her 12-year-old cousin, Ricky Kumar Persaud were heading to a mosque with their grandmother, Hamidan Haq, when a speeding car struck the two cousins.Amisha Alli was struck so hard that her head was ripped clean off. Her cousin also died on the spot.The driver,Angelo Henriquez Chile Jersey, 21-year-old Mahendranauth Singh, a mechanic of Lot 202 Industry Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara,Andrew Franks Dolphins Jersey, was charged with two separate charges of causing death by dangerous driving, another of failing to render assistance to injured persons and another of failing to stop after an accident.He was remanded to prison on the grounds that he was a flight risk and the case was transferred to the Leonora Magistrate’s Court.The matter was dropped after financial settlements were offered to the families.On January 2, 2008, 17-year-old Totaram Persaud was struck down and killed by an alleged drunk driver.The accused, 45-year-old Haniff Yusuf of 113 New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, was charged with causing death by driving in a dangerous manner, while under the influence of alcohol.He was released on $150,000 bail. The family accepted a settlement of “more than $600,000.”In December 28, 2008, eight-year-old Alecia Forrester was struck down and killed while walking.The driver, 23-year-old Mahendranauth Singh Zulficar Namdar, a contractor of Lot 76 Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara, drove past the Leonora Police Station. He was eventually apprehended at a police road-bock at Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara.He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.Namdar was released on $150,000 bail.The driver’s relatives offered the bereaved family a $600,000 financial settlement. The child’s mother said that they accompanied the family to a Charlotte Street building, where a female attorney drafted the documents for the settlement.Mrs. Constantine said that a Magistrate was then informed of the agreement and the causing death charge was dropped.And last January, relatives of security guard, Ronville Roberts, accepted a $2.5M settlement from truck driver Sahid Ali, who is accused of causing Roberts’s death in an accident on the Soesdyke/Linden highway.Ali’s attorney, Vic Puran, revealed in court that his client had made an initial payment of $200,000 to the dead guard’s family. In the presence of the court, Ali then handed over a further $500,000 to the dead man’s reputed wife,World Baseball Classic Jerseys Outlet, Ingrid Schmidt. |
