The trial of the driver accused of causing the death of Police Constable Edson Williams, who was on duty outside the HJ Water World last July when he was struck down by a lorry, came to a close yesterday.
The defendant, David Persaud, 25, of Lot 94-97, First Hill, Soesdyke/ Linden Highway, was called to give testimony and the prosecution and defence submitted their closing arguments.
Persaud, was last July read a charge which stated that on July 6, at Providence Plantation Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD), he drove motor lorry GLL 8197 in a dangerous manner, thereby causing the death of Constable Williams.
Taking the stand yesterday, Persaud testified that on July 6th, 2015, he was driving north along the East Bank Public Road to deliver a load of sand to a construction site at Providence when he turned east and saw a police officer directing traffic.
The defendant, under examination, said he steered to the centre of the roadway and approached a canter parked in the corner. As he was about to pass the vehicle, he said, he heard a “funny sound” like “metal on metal.” Persaud related that he stopped the truck right away and went around to the rear of the vehicle where he saw a body lying motionless under the left rear wheel. He stated that the officer on duty told him to remove the truck from the body and he complied.
According to Persaud, when he saw the body, there was a barrier lying on the left side of the truck. According to the accused, at the time of the accident he had been driving at about 10 miles per hour and the truck was approximately five feet from the side of the road.
In September, Inspector Cheryl Layne had that on the day in question, a lorry proceeding east along the road passed her and she heard someone shouting “Stop! Stop!”
She reported then hearing a collision with barriers followed by a loud sound like a gunshot. The woman had said that she ran to the back of the lorry where she saw Constable Williams lying on the roadway with his feet crossed and the rear left-side inner wheel on the Constable’s head. At this point of her testimony, the woman could no longer contain herself and broke down crying.
The officer, the woman reportedly heard shouting was a city police, Seon Persaud. Seon had testified that just before the collision, he was shouting and waving at the driver of the truck to stop his vehicle.
Yesterday, under cross-examination, the defendant denied that he had seen the city constable in the tray of the canter motioning to him, or even heard him shouting at him to stop the vehicle.
Persaud’s attorney Glen Hanoman in his closing arguments, told the court that although the defence concedes that the prosecution has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the deceased died as a result of the accident, they had not proven that his client, at the time, had been driving dangerously.
The defence’s argument is that as Persaud was driving along, the barrier Williams was carrying hooked the side of the truck, causing him to be flung under the wheel of the vehicle.
This possibility was brought out in Layne’s evidence, when she admitted that the metal barriers Williams was carrying at the time had hooks that protruded outwards and upwards. She said that the lorry too had hooks that have the potential to entangle with the barriers.
Another witness, Joseph Ambrose, had testified that the metal barriers came into contact with the truck before it came into contact with the deceased and investigations had revealed that Williams had been carrying the barrier before his demise.
Hanoman asked that the court not believe the testimony of Seon, who he said, seemed to be “attempting to make himself out as a hero.” Instead, the attorney asked that his testimony be approached with skepticism as at one point, he had testified that he was yelling and gesticulating for the accused to stop, and then next stated that he had brought the truck to a stop within a second. He added that even if his testimony were to be taken into account, it still would not prove his client was driving in a dangerous manner.
Hanoman stated that the point of impact Seon pointed out was where the barrier had hit the back of the truck. The only sensible explanation, he said, is that while Williams was carrying the barrier it hooked the back of the truck as it passed, which propelled him from the parapet under the wheel.
Hanoman referred to the fatal encounter as a “freak accident” and one which even the best driver in the world could not predict or avoid.
Prosecutor Neville Jeffers, in delivering his closing arguments, stated that if the evidence was to be analysed in its totality, the court would find that the manner in which Persaud was driving had caused Williams’ death.
He cited the case of Winn, Fenton Atkinson and Thompson JJ, 1962, stating that, “If a man adopted a manner of driving which, at his trial on a charge of causing death by dangerous driving, the jury think was dangerous to other users in all the circumstances, then on the issue of guilt it matters not whether he was deliberately reckless, careless, momentarily inattentive or even doing his incompetent best.”
Jeffers concluded that in this circumstance, the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Persaud, on July 6, 2015, drove motor vehicle GLL 8197 in a dangerous manner, causing the death of Williams.
The matter has been adjourned to February 15 for a decision, which will be delivered by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.
Constable Williams, 19, of Lot 113, Number 53 Village, Berbice was killed on July 6, when his head was crushed by a sand truck while he was assisting in making preparations for the ‘Soca on the Beach’ show at the then newly opened Hits and Jams Water World, located at Providence, EBD.
