A 35-year-old man will find out in August whether he will be able to obtain a driver’s licence after engaging in “reckless” and “careless” behaviour on the road last Saturday.
In the meantime, Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes has ordered that Yudesh Mohan, of Trents, St James be indoors from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily and pay a total of $1 550 in fines to the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court. The money must be paid in 12 weeks if he wants to avoid spending three months in prison.
The amount included $750 for driving without a licence on July 1 and $800 for having no vehicle insurance. Mohan was convicted, reprimanded and discharged for the offence of failing to give officers his name and address.
However, the Chief Magistrate deferred sentencing for driving without due care and attention on the basis that he needed to get updates on the status of five people who were in an accident in which Mohan was involved.
“I will consider whether I will prohibit you from getting a licence for the next 12 months because you are a reckless man, very reckless. I need some update on these people,” Weekes said.
According to Sergeant Randolph Boyce, police responded to the scene of an accident along Black Rock Main Road, St Michael where they saw the accused who denied being the driver of the car involved in the accident. The investigation led to all the other charges after he refused to give his name and address.
“I had a driving permit,” the first-time traffic offender told the court on Tuesday, even as he admitted that the permit did not allow him to drive at night.
He explained that he took “a chance” to collect tools that he needed to ply his carpentry trade the following day because he was unable to secure a ride.
He stated that along the way, “I panicked . . . lost control of the car . . . . Someone ran across the road and I steer away and panicked, pull to the right and smash into another car . . . . I was wrong. I am sorry. ”
The Chief Magistrate described Mohan’s actions as “pure foolishness”.
“This is careless behaviour. A lot of that is going on in Barbados. Pure foolishness where people take up vehicles in this country without [driver’s licence and insurance] . . . and every time you do this, that’s a risk. You have a permit and are not to be out on the road at night,” Magistrate Weekes said. “How do we get through to people who continue to engage in this kind of reckless behaviour?”
Mohan returns to the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on August 31. In the meantime, he is on $4 000 bail.
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