Essequibo Coast driver fined $180,000 for DUI, other traffic offences

Kellim Benjamin, a 29-year-old driver from Lima Sand on the Essequibo Coast, was on Wednesday fined $180,000 after pleading guilty before Suddie Magistrate Tamieka Clarke to contravening three sections of the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 51:02.

The court was told that police intercepted Benjamin on January 25 as he drove a vehicle on the Anna Regina Access Road while his breath alcohol level exceeded the prescribed limit. Thus, the charge he faced for this offence was laid under section 39(A)(1) of the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 51:02, as amended by the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Amendment Act 17/2022.
Further checks done by the police revealed that Benjamin was not a licensed driver, and was operating an unregistered motor vehicle.
Thus, appropriate charges were laid against him for contravening Section 23(1) and Section 11 of the said Act.
Benjamin had pleaded not guilty as charged in his initial arraignment in court, but on Wednesday he changed his plea to guilty. He has thus been fined $150,000 for driving under the influence, with a default penalty of three months’ imprisonment.
For the charge of unlicensed driving, he has been fined $20,000, with a default penalty of one month’s imprisonment; and for the charge of operating an unregistered motor vehicle,
he has been fined $10,000, with a default penalty of two weeks’ imprisonment.