Trevor Smith, the driver involved in an accident on a Mahdia road two weeks ago that claimed the life of his father and a friend, was yesterday fined for insurance and licence violations.
Smith, 24, said to be a mining camp owner, was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on the charges of driving without third party risk insurance and driving without being a certified licence holder.
He was fined a total of $40,000 after pleading guilty to both charges. Prosecutor Seon Blackman said that on November 21, on the Mahdia Airstrip Road at about 7am, Smith and four passengers were in a vehicle, PNN 8226, travelling south of the Mahdia airstrip. He said Smith was speeding and lost control of the vehicle, resulting in it toppling several times.
Blackman added that during the toppling, passenger Keith Paul was pitched out of the vehicle. He died sometime after. In addition, Smith’s father, Michael Prince, who was also in the vehicle, succumbed to a spinal injury in hospital some days after the accident.
Attorney James Bond, who represented Smith, said his father had complained about being tired and he volunteered to take the wheel although he was not licensed to drive the vehicle.
Bond added that his client had accepted the charges and pleaded for leniency in sentencing due to the fact that he had already taken care of the funeral arrangements for the two men and had compensated the families.
The magistrate then fined Smith $20,000 for each charge with an alternative of two weeks imprisonment for each fine.
