A 50-year-old driver, Nigel Hutson, was placed on $150,000 bail on April 9 on a charge of causing the death by dangerous driving of Aaron Leitch, a 34-year-old District Crop Extension Officer attached to the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute.
The accident occurred around 8 am on January 30 this year along the Tacama trail, Ituni District.
A source related that Hutson appeared at the Linden Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Wanda Fortune where the charge, causing death by dangerous driving was read to him.
Hutson plead not guilty and was placed on $150,000 bail with the condition that he reports to the Mackenzie police station every Saturday until the matter is concluded. He is scheduled to return to court on May 29
The accident involved a pickup, PAC 3958, owned by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and attached to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which was being driven at the time by Hutson, with occupants, Gregory Grenville, 39, from Amelia’s Ward, Linden; Arafat Fazal, 37, a Bangladeshi national; and Leitch.
Enquiries revealed that the pickup was proceeding east along the Tacama trail at a fast rate and while negotiating a bend, the driver lost control of the vehicle causing it to leave the trail and topple several times before it coming to a halt.
The accident resulted in the driver and occupants sustaining injuries. They were picked up by public-spirited persons in a conscious state, except for Leitch who was unconscious at the time, and rushed to the Linden Hospital Complex.
Leitch was pronounced dead on arrival while Fazal was admitted and later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
