Hit and run accident: Driver in Corentyne double-fatality released on $250,000 bail

After spending a week on remand, the driver who was charged over the hit-and-run accident at Number 70 Public Road Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) that claimed the lives of two persons, has been granted bail.
37-year-old Vivendra Ramdharry of Number 69 Village, Corentyne was initially charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving on March 22. Back then, he was refused bail by Senior Magistrate Alex Moore, before whom he had appeared at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court.
Ramdharry’s lawyer, Bernard Da Silva, renewed a bail application on his client’s behalf when the case came up on Thursday. In the end, the accused was admitted to $250,000 bail. He was also ordered to lodge his passport with the Clerk of Court.
It is alleged that on March 18, Ramdharry drove motor van PVV 1015 in a manner dangerous to the public, thereby causing the deaths of 28-year-old Felicia Fernandes of Coverden, East Bank Demerara (EBD) and 19-year-old Toney Lakeram, a carpenter of Number 71 Village, Corentyne.
Further, Ramdharry has been slapped with two counts of failing to render assistance after an accident and one count of failing to stop after an accident.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Ramdharry’s lawyer, without divulging any details, revealed that the victims’ families are taking a “certain course of action”.
The matter will come up again on April 14.
Police have said that the accident occurred at about 23:20h on the Number 70 Public Road, Corentyne, and involved an electric bike Lakeram was riding and a motor vehicle. Investigations revealed that the motor vehicle was speeding along the roadway when it collided with the electric bike and Fernandes, who was reportedly a pedestrian, before continuing on its journey. As a result, the duo, having sustained injuries about their bodies, were picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the Skeldon Public Hospital, where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
Ramdharry was arrested at Kitty, Georgetown the day after the accident. The vehicle he was reportedly driving was found extensively damaged at a house at Number 69 Village, Corentyne, Berbice. (G1)