SENIOR Magistrate Clive Nurse, on February 9, is expected to hand down his ruling in the driving under the influence case against former Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Rear Admiral Gary Best.
Best, 62 was last year freed of the substantive charge of causing the death of former national cyclist, Jude Bentley, by dangerous driving. Magistrate Rondell Weever had ruled in favour of a no-case submission which was made by Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, has since moved to the Court of Appeal seeking to have that ruling overturned or set aside.

The DUI matter, which stemmed from that causing- death charge is being heard by Magistrate Nurse in the traffic court.
In December, Hughes made a no-case submission calling for the DUI charge to be dismissed on the ground that the prosecution failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove key elements of the charge.

On Wednesday, Prosecutor Sanj Singh laid over written arguments in reply to Hughes’ no-case submission. Magistrate Nurse later set February 9 as his date for ruling.
Best had pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that, on February 8, 2020, at Clive Lloyd Drive, Georgetown, he drove motor vehicle PRR 8182 while his blood alcohol level was at 0.85 micrograms. He was granted self-bail on that charge.
Bentley, 41, a businessman and national cyclist, was riding along the highway as part of his training when he was struck down in the vicinity of the Russian Embassy, at approximately 05:00hr by a black Land Cruiser. Reports indicated that Bentley and Best were heading east along the road, and that Best reportedly tried to avoid hitting Bentley and struck a utility pole, but still managed to hit the cyclist and drag him several feet from the point of impact.
Best was arrested at the scene, and two breathalyser tests were administered. Both tests reportedly revealed that he was way above the legally-prescribed alcohol limit.