A WEST COAST Berbice minibus driver was on Tuesday sentenced to four years in prison after he was found guilty of causing the deaths of two passengers in his vehicle through dangerous driving.

Hurton Porter, 44, of Lovely Lass Village, West Coast Berbice had pleaded not guilty to the charges, but was found guilty by Magistrate Rhondell Weever after a trial, which lasted over seven months.

The charges had been laid indictably, but were taken summarily with the consent of the defendant.

The accident causing the deaths occurred on May 26, 2015 when Porter was driving the bus en route from Berbice  to Georgetown and the National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara  with 19 passengers, who had decided to travel  to witness the inauguration ceremony for the newly-elected President of Guyana, David Granger.

The case against Porter, prosecuted by Corporal Racquel Mars and Sergeant Althea Solomon, was that he had been driving the vehicle recklessly when the fatal accident occurred.

Testimonies revealed that minutes before the accident, passengers had asked him to desist from driving at a high rate of speed, but he had ignored their pleas.

Evidence also revealed that the passengers had warned him at that time, that the left side rear wheel of the vehicle was wobbling and he had stopped and put air into that wheel.

After doing this, it was revealed, he resumed driving at a fast rate and it was then that front, left side wheel of the vehicle blew out, causing him to lose control.

The vehicle veered off the road, toppled several times over and crashed into a fence before coming to a halt.

Several of the passengers received severe injuries as a result of the accident.
Ms Luckin Elizabeth Rodney, 54, of Golden Grove Village, West Coast Berbice, who was seated behind the conductor’s seat, received severe injuries to her neck and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Fort Wellington Hospital.

Murtland Anthony Richmond, 26, of Number 28 Village, West Coast Berbice was transferred from the Fort Wellington Cottage Hospital to the Georgetown Hospital in an unconscious condition.

He succumbed to his injuries three weeks after the accident. Porter had been allowed bail in the sum of $500,000 pending trial.