Days after a collision that claimed the life of his elderly passenger, taxi driver Joel James was yesterday charged with causing her death through dangerous driving.
James was transporting Daphne Layne, 81, and two other persons when the vehicle they were in was rammed by a minibus last Friday. Although both he and the bus driver were subsequently taken into custody, he was the only person charged yesterday.
According to the charge, on July 31st, James drove motorcar HA 5086 in a manner dangerous to the public, thereby causing the death of Layne, in the vicinity of Houston Access Road, East Bank Demerara.
James, 59, was not required to offer a plea to the indictable charge. He was, however, granted $1 million bail after his attorney, Clyde Forde, applied for reasonable bail and asked the court to take the man’s age into consideration.
Police prosecutor Dinero Jones contended that it was due to the negligence displayed by James that Layne was killed.
James walked away from the accident with minor injuries, while another female passenger, Amanda Lam, 36, sustained two fractures to her jaw. Her son, Christopher Naipaul, 16, who was also in the vehicle, was also hospitalised after accidentally swallowing glass.
The accident occurred at about 8:30AM on Friday and Layne was a passenger in the front seat of the car that was being driven by James. The minibus, which bore number plate PMM 3891, was reported to be a Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) vehicle.
Lam had recalled that the car had just put off a passenger in a street and the driver was attempting to cross the public road when the collision occurred. She said that driver had almost cleared the road when the speeding bus struck the car. “I really can’t remember exactly what happened but what I remember is that my son started screaming for me and then the bus slam the car… after that I woke up in the hospital,” Lam said.
Layne, who resided at 52 Banks Avenue, D’ Aguiar Park, had sustained a broken hip and her entire face was disfigured from the injuries she sustained as she bore the blunt of the impact during the collision.