– for killing 12 people
JUSTICE Brassington Reynolds on Thursday imposed a total of 108 years on 42-year-old Chaitram Moonsammy, after a mixed jury found him guilty on 12 counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
However, he will only serve nine years, much to the disappointment of the relatives of the deceased, who had to wait eight years to see this day.
The court heard that on Friday October 29, 2010 on the Suzanna Public Road, Corentyne, Moonsammy drove Motor Lorry GLL 8863 in a manner so dangerous to the public as to cause the deaths of: Oudit Narine Babulall, 33, of Number 48 Village, Corentyne, driver of the ill-fated minibus with which the lorry collided; Salmaa Razac, 23, of Main Street, Cumberland, East Canje; Marques Ault, 14, of Rose Hall Town, Corentyne; Cindy Jaggernauth of Nigg Settlement, Corentyne; two-month-old Josiah Khan and his mother, Talika Mendonca, 21, of Kildonan Village, Corentyne; Patricia Asgarally, 28, of Albion, Corentyne; Salmar Juman, 40, of East Canje; Orlando De Mattos, called “Lando”, 32, of Manchester Village, Corentyne; Nazaradin Mahinudin, 19, of Betsy Ground, East Canje; Chetram Ramphal, 30, and Janet Baker of Bush Lot, and Number 19 respectively, both Corentyne Villages.
In handing down the sentence, Justice Reynolds said:
“Notwithstanding psychological and emotional issues suffered by Moonsammy during the seven-and-a-half-year wait for a trial, in the public interest, against what it must be weighed, the Court must determine its sentence.
“Further, I appreciate that as a father of four unmarried children, the youngest being 16 years old, I am mindful of the parental responsibility. It is against that backdrop that I thought that a different approach would have made a difference at this point in time.
“The loss of life continues to be a concern of us all road users; we can ill afford to lose one, much less 12. There is no telling what contribution those 12 would have made to the development of our country.
“Considering the psychological issues of Mr Moonsammy, I say it is the consideration of this court that he undergoes a period of nine years in respect of each of the twelve counts. A year will be deducted for psychological consideration; with this sentence you will be out of prison by age fifty years, and play a meaningful part in the lives of your children. The sentences will run concurrently.”
In his unsworn statement from the dock, Moonsammy pleaded innocence, saying it was not he that was driving dangerously, but the driver of the minibus.
“The minibus was attempting to overtake a car,” Moonsammy said, adding:
“On seeing that, I applied brakes; but because the road was wet, the lorry began to slide. The minibus attempted to get back in its lane, but it collided in my lane. The right side of the minibus came into contact with the truck. I did not go in the minibus lane.”
Not so, according to eyewitness, Tamika Fraser, who was injured in the accident. She testified to seeing the truck travelling in the opposite direction and in their carriageway moments before a collision.
She recalled sitting in the third row of the 15-seater minibus, and peering ahead to see how fast the vehicle was going when she saw this truck coming towards the bus in which she, along with sister Tathia Mendonza and her nephew Josiah Khan, then one month, eighteen days old, were travelling.
Within moments, she said, there was an impact, which caused the bus to catapult three or four times before coming to a stop.
She said that on going in search of her relatives, she found her nephew lying on the ground with a mat over his body.
“I shook him, but he was already dead,” Fraser said. “Other persons were scattered along the roadside. I called for my sister several times, but there were no responses. I later saw my sister lying motionless on a bridge which was not easily accessible.”
She refuted Moonsammy’s claims that a car was ahead of the minibus, or that the minibus had veered into the lane of the truck, or that the bus was speeding.
Meanwhile, at the initial hearing, Defence lawyer Mursulene Bacchus had advanced preliminary legal submissions in an attempt to stay the trial. However, those submissions were overruled, and the trial commenced.
