A 24-YEAR-OLD unlicensed driver was on Monday sentenced to four years jailtime for the deaths of two of his passengers, who lost their lives during a minibus accident on the Land of Canaan Public Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD), last month.

Ronald Balgobin called “Randy,” appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and plead guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

The two charges read that on April 13 at Land of Canaan Public Road, EBD, Balgobin drove minibus BWW 4542 in a dangerous manner resulting in the death of Yvonne Mohan and Ramroop Persaud.

The Guyana Chronicle had earlier reported that the minibus driver of Sophia, Georgetown, was proceeding south on the EBD roadway reportedly at a fast rate, when he lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a turn. The minibus turned-turtle and crashed into an electrical pole.

The driver and passengers were taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, where Mohan was pronounced dead on arrival and on April 16, Persaud succumbed to the injures he received from the crash.

In court, Balgobin explained that he was in Kuru-Kuru, Linden/Soesdyke visiting a friend, who is the owner of the minibus. However the driver of the vehicle did not report for work that day.

“My friend ask me if I know to drive and I say yes, then she ask me if I want work the bus for she” he explained.

Balgobin added that he drove the bus and picked up passengers along the EBD to Georgetown, everything was going fine until on the return trip when he attempted to overtake a truck and lost control of the minibus.

“I lost control and the minibus rolled about 40 feet and after that I don’t know nothing else” he said, while begging the court for leniency.

The Chief Magistrate after considering Balgobin’s early guilty plea sentenced him to four years’ jail on each count. However the sentences will run concurrently.