FIFTY–nine–year–old hire car driver Joel James of 131 West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme was placed on $1 million bail when he appeared Tuesday before City Magistrate Ann McLennan to answer a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.James pleaded not guilty to the charge, which alleges that on July 31, on the Houston Access Road and the Meadowbank Road, Greater Georgetown, he drove hire car HA 5086 in a manner dangerous to the public, thereby causing the death of 82-year-old Daphne Layne of D’Aguiar Park, Greater Georgetown, who was a passenger in the car.

Attorney-at-law, Mr. Clyde Forde, in his application for reasonable bail for James, noted that his client works as a security officer. He requested the court to consider bail because of his client’s age, which also allegedly negates James being deemed a flight risk.

Forde further revealed that his client’s car was hit by an approaching vehicle and was pushed into a utility post, resulting in the accident.

However, according to prosecutor Deniro Jones, the defendant was the driver of the said car, HA 5086, and his negligence in proceeding on the access road led him into the path of the other vehicle, causing the collision that resulted in the death of Layne.

The deceased, Jones noted, died from multiple injuries as a result of the said accident.

The prosecutor did not object to bail, which was granted, and James is scheduled to reappear in court on August 17.

According to reports, on July 31 at about 08:20 hrs, hire car HA 5086 was on the eastern lane in the vicinity of Houston, heading south when it suddenly overtook minibus PMM 3891, registered to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and being driven by Criswell Williams, who was heading north along the East Bank Demerara Public Road. The car allegedly turned into the path of the GRA driver, causing a collision which made the bus spin out of control before hitting the hire car, causing it to slam into a metal pole.

Layne, who was in the front seat of the car, along with two other passengers — Christopher Naipaul, 16, and his mother, Amanda Ram, 34 – was rushed to the hospital along with the drivers.

Layne later succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). She had sustained severe lacerations to the face and a broken right leg, while the diver and other passengers received minor cuts and bruises.