The Queen v Levar Antonine Wood
| Jurisdiction | Cayman Islands |
| Judge | Justice Cheryll Richards |
| Judgment Date | 02 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | INDICTMENT NO: 54 OF 2021 |
| Court | Grand Court (Cayman Islands) |
The Hon. Justice Cheryll Richards QC
INDICTMENT NO: 54 OF 2021
IN THE GRAND COURT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Criminal Law-Causing Death by Dangerous Driving — contrary to s.75 of the Traffic Act (2011 Revision)-Cayman Islands Sentencing Guidelines-Principles on Sentencing.
Mr. Greg Walcolm for the Prosecution
Mr. Richard H. Barton for the Defence
The defendant is before the Court for sentencing following his guilty plea to a single offence of Causing Death by Dangerous Driving contrary to s.75 of the Traffic Act (2011 Revision). The particulars of the offence are that he on the 1 st day of September 2019, drove a Nissan Skyline motor vehicle registration number 182 542 dangerously on a road, namely Bodden Town Road, Anton Bodden Drive and then onto Shamrock Road, Bodden Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, and thereby caused the death of Giovani Jerome Berry.
The defendant was arrested for the offence on the 6 th September 2019. On the 20 th November 2019, he submitted a prepared statement to the Police. He was bailed to attend the Police Detention Centre on the 8 th February 2020. He did not report for bail, instead he left the jurisdiction on the 13 th January 2020. He did not communicate with the Police prior to or during his absence from the Islands. He was charged with the offence on the 22 nd July 2020, in his absence.
On the 10 th February 2021, the Summary Court issued an international arrest warrant for him. On the 2 nd June 2021, a request for his extradition was made to the United Kingdom. On the 23 rd July 2021, the defendant appeared before the Westminster Magistrate's Court in the United Kingdom. He consented to his extradition to the Cayman Islands. By order of the Secretary of State he was returned on the 25 th August 2021. He had been in custody in the United Kingdom from June to August 2021. He appeared in the Summary Court on the following day 26 th August 2021 when the charge was transmitted to the Grand Court.
The defendant's first appearance in the Grand Court was on the 3 rd September 2021. He was arraigned and entered a plea of not guilty. A trial date was set for the 11 th October 2021.
This date was vacated to await the defence expert's report on accident reconstruction and to allow for review of that report by the prosecution's experts. A new trial date was set for November 2021. Shortly after the new trial date was set the defendant indicated that he wished to be re-arraigned. He was re-arraigned on the 24 th November 2021 and entered a plea of guilty to the offence.
By s.75 (2) of the Act, the maximum sentence for this offence is 10 years imprisonment together with an automatic disqualification of a minimum of 5 years. By s.75 (3) the period of disqualification may run from either the date of conviction or the date of expiration of a sentence of imprisonment. The driver's license of the offender may also be endorsed. Additionally, the prosecution invites the Court to consider making an order that the defendant be re-tested for his driving license at the end of any period of disqualification.
The prosecution has provided a summary of the facts which is set out below.
On the 1 st September 2019 the defendant was seen by the Police as he drove a blue Nissan Skyline motor vehicle registration number 182 542 along Bodden Town Road. His front seat passenger was the deceased, Mr. Berry. Bodden Town Road in the vicinity of the Everglo Bar is a 30 mile per hour (“mph”) zone. The defendant drove past this area at a high rate of speed. The police officers who were in a marked service vehicle in the parking lot of the Bar noticed this. They turned on their emergency lights and followed the defendant's vehicle with a view to stopping him.
The defendant did not stop. He continued to drive at a high rate of speed. He made a right turn onto Anton Bodden Drive in a manner which the officers describe as reckless in that he turned into the lane for oncoming traffic. There were no oncoming vehicles at the time. When he made the turn his speed was estimated to be 43.26mph in a 30mph zone. He continued travelling on Anton Bodden Drive with the police vehicle travelling behind him.
Whilst approaching a left-hand bend in the road, the defendant attempted to overtake a line of three vehicles. Having passed the first two vehicles in the line, the defendant collided with the right side of the third vehicle, causing that vehicle to be pushed off the roadway to the left and his own vehicle to go off the roadway into shrubs on the right shoulder, on the opposite side of the road.
The police vehicle pulled up alongside the defendant's vehicle. However, the defendant continued driving through the shrubbery before re-entering the roadway ahead of the police vehicle and continuing on. At this point the defendant was travelling at an approximate speed of 66.32mph in a 30mph zone.
The police continued to follow the defendant as he drove over a speed bump ahead of him without braking. Thereafter the police slowed their pursuit of the defendant, having considered the possible risk of harm to other citizens should they continue. As a result, they lost sight of the defendant's vehicle as it travelled further along Anton Bodden Drive and continued onto Condor Road.
From Condor Road the defendant turned right onto Shamrock Road heading in the direction of George Town and continued to drive at a high rate of speed. On approaching the right-hand bend in the vicinity of Shamrock Road and Northward Road the defendant lost control of his vehicle. It ran off the roadway and collided with the perimeter wall of a premises in the vicinity of Doubloon Drive. Immediately prior to the collision the defendant was travelling at an approximate speed of 51.67mph. The speed limit in that area was 40mph.
The distance between Everglo Bar and Restaurant and Doubloon Drive, along Shamrock Road, is approximately 4 kilometers.
The police were advised by citizens that the defendant had travelled towards George Town. They followed in that direction and came upon the collision approximately 16 seconds later.
Both the defendant and the deceased received injuries as a result of the collision and were unable to exit the motor vehicle. Persons who witnessed the collision went to assist and saw the defendant in the driver seat and the deceased in the front passenger seat. The defendant was conscious, but the deceased was not.
Fire Services attended and assisted both the defendant and the deceased from the vehicle. They were transported to the George Town Hospital. The deceased was pronounced dead at the Hospital on the 2 nd September 2019. A subsequent postmortem examination concluded that the cause of his death was as a result of the head injuries which he received during the collision.
While the defendant was at the hospital on the 2 nd September 2019, after consulting with his attending physician, the police requested a specimen of blood from him. The defendant was warned that failure to provide this would result in prosecution. He refused to provide a specimen of blood.
The police secured the scene of the collision and the accident reconstruction experts, PS Lenford Butler and Collin Redden began their investigations. They were assisted by the Closed-Circuit Television footage (CCTV) recovered by the police from various areas along the roadway. They each concluded, from their independent analysis of the crash site and the CCTV footage, that the manner and speed of the defendant's driving prior to the first collision and thereafter to the second collision was reckless and dangerous.
The conclusion of Collin Redden 1 is as follows:
...“ This collision occurred as a result of the manner and speed of the Nissan which the driver failed to stop for the Police on Anton Bodden Drive, driving on the incorrect side of the road overtaking vehicles while [negotiating] the left hand bend which resulted in him losing control and impacting the white Audi which he failed to stop at the scene but chose to continue running where it impacted a speed limit sign then thru the front yard and across the road that leads to the residence and thru the bushes between the utility pole and coconut tree and back on to Anton Bodden Drive beside the Police car where he accelerated to 66.32 MPH when he crossed the parking lot for the Evron Plaza continued out to Shamrock Road where he headed west towards town direction.
The Nissan then crosses residence #2855 located at the junction of Northward Road at speed in a blur, still being followed by the Police who [were] 16 seconds behind him and [were] in the process of negotiating the left hand bend just after the Northward junction where the vehicle started to rotate counter clockwise or to the left and then attempted to be corrected but then rotated clockwise or to the right and got into a yaw in the vicinity of Corella Drive (North Cayman Palms) where the Nissan continued to rotate as it continued to sideslip across the center line and across the east bound lane with the vehicle facing in a northerly direction until it continued to rotate and sideslip impacting rocks that were on
the edge of the property and the left front rim and tire dug mark thru the dirt and bushes and was then rotated facing back east and went rearward and impacted the concrete wall with the corner post and fence with a significant force. The area of maximum engagement was to the right rear which was significantly compressed inward to the rear door leaving parts of the right taillight and bumper cover by the post. The Nissan then rotated counter clockwise with left front rim and tire impacted the wall leaving the imprint then rotating and coming to final rest facing the wall at an
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