By Erica Williams
A teenage driver was charged yesterday with the dangerous driving death of a 12-year-old boy, for which he was released on $200,000 bail.
Judah Louisy of Lot 121 Half Mile, Wismar, Linden, is accused of driving a car, PRR 6455, in a dangerous manner and causing the death of Johnny Romeo Da Silva on August 24, at Hauraruni Public Road, Soesdyke/Linden Highway.
The charge was indictable and Louisy was not required to plead when he was arraigned before Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Attorney Latchmi Rahamat, who represented Louisy, stated that her client was driving along the Hauraruni Public Road when 12-year-old Da Silva suddenly ran from behind a parked minibus onto the road. She added that there are witnesses who can testify to the events and argued that Louisy did not cause the boy’s death by driving dangerously.
She contended that if someone runs on to the pathway of a motor vehicle, there are some things that cannot be avoided. She also said that Louisy was not a flight risk and did not own a passport, so there was no possibility of him leaving the country to go anywhere.
But Prosecutor Seon Blackman said that Louisy was driving the car at a fast rate along the public road. He added that Da Silva was standing at the corner of the road and Louisy somehow ended up at the corner of the road and collided with the young boy.
Blackman said that when Louisy hit the young boy, his body pitched upwards and then fell on the road only to be dragged for 30ft along the roadway. The boy was afterward taken to the Diamond Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The prosecutor, who noted that Louisy had only received his licence two months prior to the accident, objected to bail in light of the serious nature of the charge.
In response to Blackman’s statement, attorney Rahamat said that the time span during which Louisy has held a licence has nothing to do with the accident.
However, she added the fact the he received his driver’s licence showed that the police thought that he was capable of driving.
“It is tragic that a life was involved. However, Your Honour, I plead that reasonable bail be granted since this offence is a one in which bail can be granted,” she said.
As a result, bail was set at $200,000, with the condition that Louisy reports to the Wismar Police Station every Saturday until completion of the court case.
The matter returns to court on September 3.
Meanwhile, John Da Silva, father of Johnny Da Silva, told this newspaper that his family resides in French Guiana but was vacationing in Guyana at the time the accident occurred.
He said that last Saturday, the family was having a picnic at the Umbrella Resort at Kuru Kuru on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway. At the time, his son was playing with a ball, which he kicked into the trench at the corner of the road. He then went after the ball. After he collected it, the father said, the boy climbed onto the bridge and was holding onto the rail of the bridge as he threw the ball to one of his playmates.
He said that his son was standing at the rail of the bridge when the car hit him off the rail, pitching his body up into the air.
He landed on the windscreen of the car and he fell and rolled in front of the car and the vehicle drove over his body before dragging it for approximately 30ft along the roadway.
The man said that a post-mortem examination indicated that Johnny died from a damaged skull and multiple fractures about his body.
The father of the young boy also said that he was very displeased at the lengthy time period the police took to respond to the crime scene, since the Madewini Outpost was just a short distance away.
