Teen driver placed on $600,000 bail for Valentine’s Day accident

Feb 18, 2021 News

By Renay Sambach

Dead: Dakera Gittens.

Dead: Tonika Halley.

Kaieteur News – Yesterday, Rayon Alves, the 19-year-old driver of the motor vehicle that was involved in the Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown accident on Sunday which claimed the lives of two teenagers, made his first court appearance. He was placed on $600,000 bail.
Alves, the defendant, of Lot 1, East La Penitence, Georgetown, appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly.
He was slapped with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving charges and these were read to him in the presence of his lawyer, Dexter Todd. Alves denied both allegations.
The first charge alleged that on February 14, 2021 at Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown, he drove motor vehicle PVV 1289 in a manner dangerous to the public, thereby causing the death of 19-year-old Dakera Gittens of Nutmeg Street, Festival City, Georgetown.
The other charge alleged that on the same date and at the same location, he drove the same vehicle in a manner dangerous to the public, thereby causing the death of 18-year-old Tonika Halley of Phase Two, East La Penitence, Georgetown.
During Todd’s address to the court, he made an application for bail in a reasonable amount and said that his client would abide by any condition attached to the bail.

Charged: Rayon Alves.

Police Prosecutor, Richard Harris, told the court that after the accident, Alves went home. The prosecutor also asked that Alves’ driver’s licence be suspended, that his passport be lodged and that he reports to the East La Penitence Police Station every Monday, until the determination of the trial.
Senior Magistrate Daly granted Alves bail in the sum of $300,000 on each charge and ordered the prosecutor’s request. The matter was adjourned to March 15, 2021.
According to a police report, the accident occurred at around 00:30hrs on Valentine’s Day. The accident victims were all travelling in the car (PVV 1289) which Alves was driving.
The report stated that the teen driver was proceeding west on the northern carriage of the road, reportedly at a fast rate, when he lost control of the motor vehicle. As a result, the car crashed into a utility pole on the parapet before tumbling a few times and coming to a stop in a nearby trench.
Passengers of passing vehicles stopped to render assistance to the occupants of the car, while others alerted the police and the ambulance service.

The scene of the accident last Sunday.

Kaieteur News had reported that public-spirited persons removed the occupants from the vehicle and rushed them to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Based on video footage seen by this publication, Gittens was lying in the grass while his friends and other persons stood around him. One man was heard saying, “The man gone oh S@*#%.” Followed by another man saying, “Nah, nah he good.”
A woman then started calling his name, while she reached down and touched his face. The shirt Gittens was wearing was torn and bloodied, his hands had multiple cuts and he was panting for breath while blood gushed from the side of his face.
The woman continued saying, “Dakera, Dakera,” and rubbed his cheeks.
In another video, some persons were seen near the corner of the trench in their attempt to ascertain if anyone else was in the vehicle. At the same time, police ranks were busy inspecting the scene as Emergency Medical Technicians were preparing Gittens, Halley and others to take them to the hospital.
Gittens reportedly died at the scene and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital by a doctor. Halley, on the other hand, reportedly passed away while receiving medical attention. Their bodies were taken to the Lyken Funeral Parlour.
After the accident, Alves was arrested at his home. A breathalyzer test conducted on him revealed no trace of alcohol in his system.
Two of the other occupants of the car, Delvern Luthers of Wortmanville, Georgetown, and Troy Glen of Laing Avenue, Georgetown, are still hospitalized while another, Joel Rose of Durban Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown, has since been discharged.

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