Man, 67, to spend two years in jail for causing deaths of Bartica biker, pillion rider
Sixty-seven-year-old Byron Pearson, who was charged last year with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, was found guilty and jailed.
Pearson of Mongrippa Hill, Bartica, Region Seven, was on trial before Magistrate Christel Lambert in the Bartica Magistrate’s Court.
He was charged last year in May with causing the deaths of David Huggings and his wife, Felicia Lewis. At this time, he pleaded not guilty and was placed on $600,000 bail.
However, when he appeared in court on Friday, Magistrate Lambert found him guilty of the offences and sentenced him to two years imprisonment for each charge, which would run concurrently.
In February of 2023, Huggings and Lewis were killed after motor car PRR 5669, driven by Pearson, collided with the motorcycle they were on at Fourth Avenue and Fifth Street in Bartica.
At the time of the accident, Police said that the 67-year-old man failed to observe the stop sign at the Fifth Street intersection. As such, the motorcycle, which was proceeding east along the northern side of Fifth Street at a fast rate, collided with the right side of the car.
As a result, Huggins and Lewis fell on the road and sustained injuries to their heads and bodies. They were picked up in an unconscious state by public-spirited persons and rushed to the Bartica Regional Hospital, where the pillion rider was pronounced dead on arrival.
Huggins, who was suffering from head trauma and lacerations to his body, was airlifted by the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
