THERE was a terrible accident at Mon Repos; as a result, two people are dead others seriously wounded. Initial reports coming from the press seem to suggest that there was a horrible accident at Mon Repos, that is a “speeding minibus’ crashing into a rich man’s expensive Toyota Tundra.

It must be an accident and for obvious reasons the minibus is at fault. However, damnable evidence collected at the crime scene tells a totally different story. Tests revealed that the young unlicensed driver in the expensive faster moving vehicle was drunk. Which brings me to the question, why wasn’t he slapped with a vehicular homicide charge and not just a simple accident? This was no accident; this is a vehicular homicide. So I am very worried at the charges. That charge should have read vehicular homicide by a drunk, unlicensed driver among other charges.

Secondly, the father of that drunken teen has said that he did not give his son permission to drive is highly suspicious. His expensive vehicle was missing, which meant that he should have filed a stolen vehicle report to begin with and not wait until his beloved son was caught red-handed in a drunken vehicular homicide. But that father knows fully well if he did that it would have made him one big uncaring father who would like to see his son go down for the crime. So that statement of using the vehicle without permission is a lie even if anyone with half a brain ponders it. I am absolutely sure that this is not the first time that boy drove that vehicle with the father’s knowledge and his blessing. If he says he might have warned him not to drink and drive that I am more inclined to believe, but without his permission, oh please, think again.
So, I believe that he had hoped to do the same again, unfortunately, this time there were no happy endings. A rich kid in a fancy and expensive vehicle, why not show off? That’s the way “normal parents” of rich kids behave.
So, being callous and uncaring, that would not happen and this is the way this case is going to play out in court.
That father is going to try his utmost to have his son vindicated of the crime. He would first utilise the services of a high-priced lawyer then he would go after the crime scene investigators, that is, the policemen.
It is astonishing to know how crime scene evidence could change as the courthouse testimony unfolds. For starters, that breathalyser reading of 1.4  might very well read 0.004 microgrammes well below the legal limit when the searchlight would be turned outwards to the so called speeding minibus driver. Amazing what money can buy in Guyana these days. The point I am making is once you are a drunken driver commandeering a vehicle in a vehicular homicide you are guilty as sin, no discussion, end of story. There should be no further deliberations on the matter; the law is very clear on this. The only thing left is for that person to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And this is my problem with the Guyana situation. There are too many cases that go  abegging when rich and/or influential people are involved. The police suddenly become amnesiac, their testimony sketchy, when lots of “I cannot recall” comes into play. As a result, the innocent and dead suddenly become the guilty parties and the guilty living walk free.
I would urge family members of the deceased to hire an attorney to look after the interest of their dead loved ones. Do not leave everything in the hands of the lawmen. Past experiences with unscrupulous lawmen in Guyana speak volumes; I do not trust some of them and there is every reason to believe that this is going to be the case here.
In this regard, I refer to a similar situation in the United States recently, where a drunken teen born to Guyanese parents was involved in a vehicular homicide. Probably they thought they were in Guyana where rich kids are given a rap on the knuckles for driving while drunk and get away with it. Well, they were mistaken, because parents as well as the teenaged son were imprisoned and a very heavy fine to go with it to compensate the families of the deceased. I am looking forward to the same result in the Mon Repos vehicular homicide case: imprisonment as well as heavy financial compensation for the relatives. When parents have to sell their expensive, prized vehicles to compensate the surviving relatives, then and only then would we put a halt to vehicular homicides in Guyana. The stiff penalties that await them would force persons to be more careful when driving on our roads. It would also teach drivers to respect the sanctity of life which sadly is lacking in our country.

If any message is to be sent to drunken drivers, this is the time to do it.