Mandela Avenue fatal collision: Truck driver gets 5 years for killing businessman
A driver who caused the death of a father of four after jumping the traffic light and colliding with the man’s vehicle in a horrific accident on Mandela Avenue, Georgetown was slapped with a five-year jail sentence.
Forty-four-year-old Aslom Masood of Supply, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD) was brought before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan on Thursday to answer to a causing death by dangerous driving charge to which he pleaded guilty.
He admitted that on September 15, at Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, he drove motor lorry GYY 5875 in a manner dangerous to the public thereby causing the death of 45-year-old Nigel Cush, a father of four, of Roxanne Burnham Gardens, Georgetown.
Jailed: Aslom Masood
It was reported that the accident occurred at around 01:30h on the day in question on Mandela Avenue and Vlissengen Road in Georgetown. At the time of the collision, Masood was driving a truck bearing registration number GYY 5875 while Cush was operating his motor car, PVV 7062.
The truck was proceeding east along the northern carriageway on Mandela Avenue and according to its driver, as he approached the traffic light at Vlissengen Road and Mandela Avenue, which was showing green, he continued his journey.
He claimed that motor car PVV 7062 which was proceeding south along Vlissengen Road slowed down on the approach to Mandela Avenue, and continued further south, into the truck’s path.
The lorry driver related that he applied the brakes and swerved in a south-easterly direction but the left front portion of the truck collided with the right front portion of the motor car. As a result, the car then slammed into a lamp pole in the centre of the median.
The car that the businessman was driving at the time of his demise
After the collision, Cush, who sustained injuries about the body, was pulled from the wrecked vehicle in an unconscious state. He was placed in an ambulance and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
However, contrary to the driver’s account of the accident, video footage that was taken from a nearby Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) showed that Cush was crossing the said junction of Vlissengen Road and Mandela Avenue with the light showing green.
Dead: Nigel Cush
The traffic light, in the direction of the truck, showed red. A breathalyser test conducted on the driver showed no trace of alcohol in his system.
Cush was the proprietor of Grill and Jerk Bar on Cummings Street and South Road, Georgetown.
