Drunk killer driver ahead of five-year sentence

Nov 07, 2014 News

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– Magistrate orders $12M compensation for victim’s family   

When police finally charged the man that was responsible for killing his wife in a road accident last February, Colin

Tull was convinced that justice would be served. But nine months later when Magistrate Alex Moore eventually handed down his sentence, the drunk driver who had slammed into his wife Lovina Williams, had vanished.
In fact the accused 25-year-old Hafraz Mangroo who was granted bail by the High Court, had disappeared long before the trial ended, in a clear move to avoid imminent imprisonment.
Mangroo was sentenced in his absence to five years’ imprisonment by Magistrate Moore, who also ordered that he pay compensation of $12M to the woman’s family.
The magistrate also ordered that his licence be suspended for 15 years. This was after Mangroo was found guilty of causing the death of Williams by dangerous driving.
On February 5, last, Williams, a hotel employee who resided at Melanie Damishana on the East Coast of Demerara, was standing outside the Ocean View International Hotel, waiting for transportation to go home when she was struck down by an out-of-control pick-up that was driven by Mangroo at the time.
She was hurled several yards by the vehicle which only came to a halt 100 yards from the point of impact.
Investigators later found out that Mangroo was way over the legal limit of alcohol consumption when the accident occurred. He received a fine of $7500 for drunk driving.
He had pleaded not guilty to causing death by dangerous driving charge and was initially remanded to prison after a string of objections to his pre-trial liberty by Police Prosecutor, Inspector John Singh.
However, this newspaper understands that Mangroo, through his attorney Pamela De Santos, managed to secure $200,000

bail in the High Court.
The trial commenced and after three witnesses had testified, Mangroo stopped attending court. His attorney subsequently wrote the court informing that she was withdrawing herself from the matter, since she had lost communication with Mangroo.
Magistrate Alex Moore had no other option but to continue the trial ex-parte.
A few more witnesses testified, after which Prosecutor Singh closed his case.
In summing up, Inspector Singh told the court that judging from the investigations, it was clear that Mangroo was reckless. He pointed to the fact that it was raining at the time of the accident and the skid marks on the parapet near the road which stretched for more than 150 feet, as well as the damage to the pick-up, were clear indications that the vehicle was driven at a terrific rate of speed.
His summation was so convincing that Magistrate Moore took everything into consideration and then handed down his sentence. In addition to the prison term and the compensation order, Mangroo will also have to pay a court cost of $100,000.
But despite all of this, there is no comfort for Colin Tull, since the person who killed his wife could escape justice, thanks to a system that allowed him to skip bail so easily.
“When the magistrate give his judgment, at least I feel good that they (court) do a good job, but I didn’t feel comfortable because he (Mangroo) wasn’t there. If a man get sentence, he must be there at the court…ah mean, if a man kill you wife, you suppose to get some sort of justice, you suppose to see the man in the court.
The first calling he come and after then they bring a paper stating that he sick, but that was a lie,” Tull stated.
Police have indicated that they are making checks to ascertain if Mangroo has indeed fled Guyana, since he has disappeared from his East Coast Demerara address.
“Bail was poor, very poor, because a man that kill my wife get $200,000 bail when other people going pon one million dollars, it ain’t mek sense,” Tull added.
He stated that in other countries, some who committed similar acts would not have been so fortunate when it came to their pre-trial liberty.
“In Barbados, a man drunk 200 percent over de limit, if he hit down any person and he kill dem, he going to prison, there’s no bail on that… and they ain’t got no bribery that you could do to escape that. Guyana is just a slack place, and the drunk driving just keep going on and on with no heavy penalty pon it,” an obviously frustrated Tull told this newspaper.
The outcome of his wife’s case is similar to that of Alicia Gouveia, whose drunken killer fled the jurisdiction after being placed on bail. It was out of the Gouveia case that the outspoken road safety organization, Mothers In Black, was formed.
“As far as I concerned, he (Mangroo) buy a lot of time and they gave him time to get away,” Tull stated.
He told this newspaper that after the accident he and Mangroo had agreed on a financial settlement, but that fell through after Mangroo failed to honour his end of the bargain, despite being given adequate time.
Police have assured that they are making every effort to locate Mangroo, including checks at the various ports of entry.

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