Two additional charges were yesterday instituted against hire car driver Totaram Ramsaroop, who allegedly hit a mother and her teenage son as they were walking along the Seawell road, East Coast Berbice on Monday.
Forty-five-year old Latchmi Darindingum and her son Joshua Ramlakhan, 16, remain hospitalised.
The defendant reappeared at the New Amsterdam Court before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs- Marcus where additional charges of failure to stop after an accident and failing to render assistance to injured persons were read to him. He pleaded not guilty and was placed on an additional $40,000 bail.
Particulars of the new charges state that on March 6, last at Seawell access road, he drove motor vehicle HB 6144 which was involved in an accident and failed to stop the said vehicle.
Further, after the accident occurred, injuries were sustained by Ramlakhan and the defendant failed to stop the said vehicle after the accident.
On Tuesday, Ramroop, 31, of Number Seven Village, East Coast Berbice , made his first appearance at the New Amsterdam Court, where he had maintained his innocence.
Then, police had instituted three charges, failure to stop, failure to render assistance and driving under the influence. The defendant had 125 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath after a breathalyzer test was conducted. He was ordered to post a total of $70,000 bail.
Ramroop pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
At his court hearing, attorney at law Joey Poonai, told the court that his client did not get to render assistance because he was attacked by a crowd which pelted bottles and he fled out of fear.
However, Police Sergeant Phillip Sherrif, objecting to bail, said the defendant struck two persons and drove away. He then parked his vehicle at home and returned to a liquor restaurant where he was arrested.
Ramlakhan, he said, remains unconscious at the Georgetown Public Hospital while his mother, is a patient at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
The Magistrate overruled the objection and ordered bail, while stipulating that the defendant lodge his passport with the Clerk of Court, before reporting each Tuesday to a senior rank or the Station Sergeant of Central Police Station.
The case is fixed for hearing on April 5.
