Juliano Seunarine, the driver who is charged with causing the death of Christobel Hughes during a vehicular collision, on Thursday testified that the driver of the vehicle she was in had driven suddenly into his path, thereby causing the fatal accident.
Seunarine, who was called to lead his defence when his trial continued in a Georgetown Magistrate’s Court, also denied that he was inebriated at the time of the accident.
Seunarine, of Lot 3 Area ‘H’ La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara, has been fined $7,500 after he pleaded guilty to the charge of driving under the influence following the accident. He was, however, denied the charge that while intoxicated, he drove his vehicle in a dangerous manner, causing the death of Hughes on the night of August 15.
Seunarine recounted that around 10 pm on the night of the accident, he left “a Domino place” located in Barr Street, Kitty, and proceeded onto Lamaha Street.
He said he had been heading north along Lamaha Street at approximately 40km/hr to 45km/hr when a motor vehicle suddenly came out of a street, which he later learned to be Pike Street. It happened so quickly, he said, that he hit the vehicle, resulting in the front of his vehicle colliding with the left side of the other. He related that the vehicle, an X-Trail, spun to the right-side of his, while his vehicle stopped a few feet north of the point of impact.
Seunarine said that after he exited his vehicle, he made an attempt at offering an explanation, but no one paid him any attention. He further stated that he assumed the police had taken down all the relevant information pertaining to the directions the vehicles were traveling in and how the collision had occurred, but noted that it now seemed as if nothing was done.
The defendant, whose evidence was being led by attorney Glen Hanoman, stated that he had never told police he was traveling on Pike Street that night. He said as well that he knew the road he was driving on at the time was a major road, making it the responsibility of the other driver to stop and make way for him.
Prosecutor Neville Jeffers, cross-examining Seunarine, put it to the witness that his entire testimony was a fabrication.
He further put it to the witness that on that night in August, he had in fact been the one driving along Pike Street, while the other vehicle was on Lamaha and that he was so high he does not remember what street he was on.
He suggested that he was so drunk that persons had to help him out of the vehicle after he stopped and that he had told the police he lost control of the vehicle. These claims were not accepted by the defendant.
When asked by the prosecution what he was doing at the Domino place, Seunarine said he had been hanging with some friends.
When Jeffers suggested he had been drinking, and that the breathalyser test proved his alcohol content was above the prescribed limit, the defendant said he had not been shown the results. The witness was then shown two breathalyser test results, one of which he identified as having his signature. On the identified document, his breath alcohol level was said to be .146%.
He conceded that he did have a few drinks that night but said that while he could not say what percentage is acceptable, he knows there is a two beer limit and he had three. He added that those three beers were taken earlier in the night, at least an hour to an hour and a half before he left.
The matter has been adjourned to May 25 for the defence to present its closing arguments.
