Driver gets three years for killing porter in Kuru Kururu accident

Sadath Newark, the 28-year-old driver charged with causing the death of one of the two men he struck along the Kuru Kururu highway earlier this year, was yesterday sentenced to three years in jail for the crime.

It was alleged that Newark on February 6th, 2018, at Kuru Kururu, Soesdyke-Linden High-way, drove motorcar PRR 378 in a manner dangerous to the public, thereby causing the death of Dexter Conway.

At the time of the accident, which occurred around 11 pm, driver Elroy Savory and Conway, a porter, were trying to fix their truck. They were both struck down by Newark.

Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman, who presided over Newark’s trial, yesterday disagreed with the defence’s assertion that it was the deceased and Savory who created the unsafe situation that resulted in the fatality.

According to Magistrate Latchman, her grounds for disbelieving the evidence of the defence stemmed from Newark saying that he noticed the truck about 40 feet in front of him.

The Magistrate noted that the post-mortem report indicated that the deceased died of multiple injuries, including blunt force trauma to the head, a ruptured spleen and liver and multiple skeletal fractures.

Magistrate Latchman further stated that the defendant had enough light to see what was in front of him and that he had 6 feet to manoeuvre around the deceased and Savory.

The defendant heard that if he were paying attention at the specific time, he would have seen the two men since he saw the truck, which was 40 feet away.

Upon these grounds, Newark was found guilty.

Prior to sentencing the accused Magistrate Latchman stated that she took into consideration the fact that a life was lost and that the defendant took the deceased to the hospital and assisted with the investigation.

Newark was represented by attorney Sonia Parag.

After the accident, Conway, a father of five who resided at Old Road, Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara, sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the East Bank Demeara Regional Hospi-tal at Diamond, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.