Soldier found guilty of dangerous driving

Jan 06, 2018 News

jailed for 12 months

Jailed: Zamani Archibald

Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman yesterday sentenced a soldier to 12 months imprisonment after finding him guilty of dangerous driving at the conclusion of the trial.

Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Lance Corporal, Zamani Archibald, on March 11, last, at Soesdyke Public Road, East Bank Demerara, drove motor pick-up DFB 1566 in a manner dangerous to the public causing the death of Harry Persaud.

The Magistrate in coming to her ruling told the court that the prosecution was unable to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt that Archibald caused the death of Persaud, because the investigating rank did not testify in the matter.

However Police Prosecutor Vishnu Hunt was able to prove that Archibald drove in a manner dangerous to the public.

The Magistrate told the court that the five witnesses that were called by the accused all gave conflicting evidence and she did not attach any weight to their testimonies. She told the court that she found that Archibald paid no attention to the road and on the day in question he drove below the standards of a competent driver.

The soldier was represented throughout the trial by Attorney-at-law, Leslie Sobers. He was out on $1M bail.

According to reports, on the day in question, Persaud, a pensioner of Lot 7 Public Road, Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, was taking his one-year-old granddaughter for a ride on his pedal cycle along the East Bank Demerara Highway.

Archibald who was driving a vehicle belonging to the GDF collided with them, hitting them off the bicycle.
Reports indicated that Persaud and his granddaughter were both picked up by Archibald and taken to the East Bank Regional Hospital at Diamond, where Persaud was pronounced dead on arrival.
His granddaughter was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital where she was treated and sent away.

During his testimony, Archibald had recalled that on the day in question, he was preparing to travel to Timehri, East Bank Demerara. He said that at Soesdyke Public Road, East Bank Demerara, he saw a pedal cyclist turn out of a street and proceed in the direction of Timehri.
According to Archibald, as he was about to approach the pedal cyclist who was riding on the left hand side of the road, the man made an attempt to cross the road. Archibald said that he sounded his horn and the pedal cyclist pulled back into the corner.
“When I almost passed him (the pedal cyclist) he made a dash out to come back on the road. When he made the dash out, I was almost up under him.”

Archibald said that although he swerved the vehicle that he was driving, the pedal cyclist still ended up colliding with the side of his fender.
“At the time there was no traffic on the road. I came out of the vehicle and saw a man and a little girl lying on the road.” He said that he and some of his colleagues rushed both of them to the hospital. The soldier said that about 30 minutes after, his superior informed him that the man had died.