The relative of a man who died in a road accident in 2011 is aggrieved that the death by dangerous driving convict is out on bail pending an appeal.
Businessman Bishnarine `Sanjay’ Persaud was granted bail in the High Court just days after he was sentenced to jail for 58 months over the death of Leon Hunte.
Ronald Bobb, Hunte’s relative, says that there is nothing that can be done now as all the odds are working against him. Hunte is of the view that a poor person convicted in the same circumstances would not have been able to even approach the courts for bail as Persaud was able to do.
“Not all time money gun save you but when you get money and yah know yah way…Imagine you get sentence and in two days, you go to the High Court or whichever court yah go and you get bail and yah walk free after taking a life,” Bobb, who lost his cousin-in-law Hunte in the accident, lamented.
Persaud was sentenced to 58 months in jail by Magistrate Judy Latchman but after three tries at the various levels of the judiciary by his lawyer to secure bail, he was granted bail of $500,000 pending an appeal hearing.
The 78-year-old Bobb who had provided a home and cared for Hunte for 33 years told Stabroek News during a recent interview that while he applauds the magistrate for the sentence it has all come to naught as Persaud is roaming the streets free.
“The magistrate was correct in everything but the law does take some twist and turns,” he said adding that he is very disappointed at the way things turned out.
He said that when he heard that Persaud was granted bail pending an appeal, he immediately linked it with the businessman’s ability to hire counsel to approach the courts. He said that had it been an ordinary man, that person would have still been in jail serving out his sentence. “He has money and it worked in his favour,” he stressed while adding that this case highlights that the poor don’t stand a chance against the wealthy.
“Madam if it was me, I couldn’t a get bail cause I poor,” he said noting that while the granting of the bail came as a surprise he was taken aback by the amount. “That is nothing fuh that man,” he said adding that even the bail granted before the start of the trial was “nothing.”
The elderly man who regarded Hunte, who was mute, as his own son, says he is now clueless as to what will happen to the matter now and more so he strongly believes that this is the end of the case and that the man responsible for Hunte’s death will continue to live life without being punished.
He called on the authorities to start treating fatal accidents with more seriousness.
Compensation as preferred
Meanwhile, Bobb said that though a crime has been committed it would have been better if Persaud was made to pay compensation as spending time in jail will not bring Hunte back.
Bobb who is a diabetic and suffers from illnesses associated with his age said that he spent his savings to supply items for the wake and to pay for other things leading up to Hunte’s funeral. Hunte’s immediate family, he said, paid for the funeral.
He related that he spent over $900,000 as Hunte’s colleagues kept turning up at his Campbellville home and he did not see it as right to turn anyone away.
Bobb who had testified during the trial said that he pleaded with the court to have Persaud reimburse him some of the money he had spent.
“I did want back my money,” he stressed adding that had he been present in court on the day that the sentencing took place he might have pleaded for Persaud because in his mind it was better to compensate relatives.
“I woulda stand up and plea because is my money gone down the drain,” he said
He told Stabroek News that he “knew that something would have happened but he could not figure out what. Not getting off but something along that line.” The elderly man said that he knew that the magistrate was a strict magistrate and was satisfied with the sentence handed down. What he is against is that the businessman managed to file an appeal and get bail without having to serve the sentence handed down.
Bobb, said that this was not something he could have pursued as Hunte’s brother and other relatives said that they had an attorney looking at the matter and he thought it best to “keep out”.
Asked whether he was satisfied with the sentence, he said that he doesn’t mind the jail time but it would have been better if the matter was settled as Hunte had already died and nothing can bring him back.
According to Bobb it was only following Hunte’s death that he learnt that he had many relatives including siblings living abroad. He spoke of how he took a decision to step back from pursuing the matter after a brother called and told him that a cousin had hired a lawyer to watch the family’s interest.
He said he became “turned off” by the attitude displayed by Hunte’s relatives and this resulted in him not turning up on the day that Persaud was present. Up until then he had attended every hearing and on the sentencing day no relative for Hunte was in the courtroom.
“…I would have done something different because to go through all this long long story, things woulda wuk out different,” he said. He said that although Hunte’s siblings were not residing here they took over the matter and put him in the back seat although the man had been living with him for 33 years. He insisted that had they allowed him to deal with the matter things would have worked out differently.
On September 11, 2014, Persaud, 43, called ‘Sanjay,’ drove motor car PKK 5501 in a manner dangerous to the public at Lamaha Street, Newtown, Kitty, thereby causing the death of Hunte. Persaud had pleaded not guilty when the charge was read days after the accident and was released on $1.5 million bail.
After a lengthy trial, Magistrate Latchman found him guilty of the offence, noting that there was enough evidence that the businessman fell short of the standard and care of a competent driver, thus he was responsible for Hunte’s death.
In response to the verdict, Persaud’s lawyer Glenn Hanoman, made an application for bail, pending an appeal. Hanoman reminded the magistrate during his application to take into consideration that his client, subsequent to the accident, paid the complete funeral and wake expenses of the deceased. He also said Persaud was the sole breadwinner of his household and the father of two children who still attend school. In the eventual successful bail application, Hanoman had said that his client was suffering from life-threatening illnesses.
No date has been set by the Court of Appeal for the hearing of the appeal in this matter.
A legal source questioned whether the amount of bail granted is enough to keep Persaud in Guyana. It was stated that the purpose of bail pending appeal is to keep a person within the jurisdiction until the matter is heard and determined. “To keep the convicted individual in the country, can $500,000 keep somebody like Sanjay in Guyana? Are there any other conditions attached to bail which would lend themselves to him having to stay in Guyana such as the lodging of his passport?” the source asked.
Bail following conviction in another high-profile case has also raised eyebrows. In October Magistrate Annette Singh found Sam Hinds Jr guilty of threatening and wounding Tenza Layne. He was fined $10,000 for threatening behaviour and sentenced to two months in prison for unlawful wounding. He was later granted $50,000 bail after his lawyer stated that he would be appealing the sentence.
