By Ayanna Blair
Magistrate Judy Latchman yesterday granted Mahendranauth Singh, the 21-year-old man, who is accused of causing the deaths of two Tuschen cousins two Sundays ago, bail in the sum of $1.1M when he appeared before her at the Leonora Court.
Singh had previously appeared before Magistrate Priya Beharry at the George-town Magistrate’s Court who had ordered that he be remanded to prison.
He was yesterday represented by attorney-at-law Vic Puran who in his bid to secure bail for his client had stated the offences were bailable and that his client had never been in court for any other offence. He told the magistrate that he had a bail application pending in the High Court and that the only reason Chief Justice Ian Chang placed it aside is because he said that the Magistrate who is dealing with the case will make a decision on what should happen.
The lawyer stated that the facts of the incident are particularly gruesome and evoke a lot of emotions. He said that the facts are that a number of children ran across the road from south to north and that his client had been travelling from west to east. He said that the road was a perfectly straight road.
Puran went on to say that the issue of the driver (Singh) losing control of the car is “non-existent” and that the accident occurred in the southern lane of the road. He said that the group of children ran across the road in such a manner that they blocked the road and that if his client had maintained his lane he would have killed all eight children. He said that his client swerved south to avoid hitting the children but the Tuschen cousins, Ricky Kumar and Amisha Alli, ran back to the southern side of the road and were hit.
“My client did stop after the accident”, stated the lawyer.
The lawyer said that the facts given by the prosecution were an incorrect version of the incident.
He said that there were two passengers in the car and that while they were in police custody the police had brought allegations against them saying that several bystanders heard them telling Singh to “drive! drive!” just after the accident.
He said that his client disembarked his car and he noticed the two children lying on the road – the girl was decapitated.
“If you look at my client’s car you would see that it has a bumper that goes down to the ground and it was that bumper that had severed the child’s head and not speed”.
“The accident was not caused by speed or recklessness or dangerous driving but rather by the children running on the road”.
He said that the hostile crowd that had gathered after the accident had scared his client away and that “since he is unfamiliar with the Leonora Police Station he had passed it to get to go to Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station which he is familiar with but he was stopped by police at Den Amstel”. The lawyer said that the only factor against his client was that he drove away from the scene.
However, Prosecutor Sherwin Matthews then objected to the bail application stating that “the facts the counsel has given this court are not true”.
He said that his instructions were that the children were standing on the southern side of the road when the defendant who was driving at a fast rate struck them down at the corner and not at the centre of the road and then drove away.
The prosecutor noted that the reason that Singh didn’t stop was because he was trying to escape so he passed the Leonora Police Station and was later caught at a roadblock at Den Amstel.
The prosecution went on to say that Singh should not be granted bail because he may not return to court for his trial, noting that he had fled the scene after the accident. He noted that the offences are serious in nature.
Puran then interjected and told the court that the prosecutor had not presented any grounds for his client’s bail to be denied.
The lawyer then posited to the magistrate “I wish to take a bold step and revisit the scene of the accident in the company of a traffic rank or any other policeman to see where exactly the point of the collision is”.
He said that the road had a circle with a black X in the middle of it, placed by a policeman, and that this marked the point of collision.
The magistrate then said “Well since I’m a fan of practicality I will allow it”. She then ordered that Matthews organize for one of his officers to go with Puran to the scene of the accident.
Puran left and returned to the court in about 20 minutes and Corporal Sunil Lall, who went along with him, told the court that “the mark on the road is almost on the southern centre of the road”, confirming what Puran had previously stated.
The magistrate later placed Singh on bail in the sum of $500, 000 for each of the causing death charges and $50, 000 each for the failing to stop and failing to render assistance charges.
“No one said sorry”
Several protesters picketed the court yesterday. Abdool Azeez, Ali’s father and Sonita Persaud, Kumar’s mother told Stabroek News that they were there in solidarity to bring attention to the unfair way suffering families are treated in Guyana when a crisis occurs.
Azeez said that since the accident none of Singh’s family members have approached him or his family “to say dey sorry or give a lil assistance foh we suffering”.
He said that the other protesters were persons from his community.
The children’s grandmother, who was with them at the time of the accident said “dey nah even sey de gat a heart foh tun back and see wah happen”.
“Poor people gah rights like anybody else”, one protester said.
“He shouldn’t be granted bail”, shouted a woman from behind.
A tearful and emotional Azeez said a little boy who witnessed the accident told him that he saw his son, Ieajaz Azeez, trying to put Alli’s head back on her body. “She brother try foh put she head back on so dat people wouldn’t see he sister with she head off…….when he see it couldn’t go back on he still cover he sister with a mat”.
He said that it is every parent’s dream to see their children get married “and nah foh see them in no coffin”.
Reports are that Alli, 10 and her cousin, Kumar, 12, were heading to the Tuschen Mosque for a seminar along with two other relatives and their grandmother, Hamidan Haq, when the incident occurred. Alli was decapitated while Kumar suffered head injuries and broken bones.
Singh reportedly sped away and several villages away, hit and killed a dog at Meten-meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara.