Owing to “insufficiently reliable” breathalyser results, 38-year-old Roberto Narine, who is presently on trial for causing the death of a squash athlete by dangerous driving, has been freed of a driving under the influence (DUI) charge, his attorney Siand Dhurjon has said.
Dead: Ian Mekdeci
The accident which occurred at the intersection of Vlissengen Road and Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, Georgetown during the wee hours of May 1, 2022 resulted in the death of Ian Mekdeci, 27, of Subryanville, Georgetown.
The DUI charge against Narine, a civil engineer of Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara, was dismissed by Magistrate Clive Nurse on Wednesday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. In so doing, the magistrate upheld a no-case submission made by Narine’s counsel.
According to Dhurjon, while the Police, through special prosecutor Attorney-at-Law Latchmie Rahamat, led evidence of video footage of Narine being breathalysed and being shown the instrument’s reading of being over the legal limit — .162 microgrammes — there was no evidence that the specific breathalyzer instrument was approved for such use by the Minister. This is a requirement of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, he noted.
The legal limit is .35 microgrammes in every 100ml of breath. The lawyer pointed out that there was no certificate adduced by the prosecutor to prove that Police Officer Haynes, who conducted the breathalyzer analysis, was authorised to do such breath tests.
In light of this, Dhurjon contended, an unauthorised officer conducted a “flawed breathalyser procedure” on Narine using a device unapproved for the said purpose.
“The magistrate went on to rule on Wednesday that the prosecution itself had introduced into evidence information to show that the breathalyser device was not in proper working condition… that the apparatus was incapable of printing the result receipts,” Dhurjon said.
Charged: Roberto Narine
Under cross-examination, he said, Police Officer Haynes admitted that he was not trained to print and use the receipts, and that the court was deprived of certain facts because the machine could not print receipts.
Dhurjon said, too, “Both witnesses accepted under cross-examination that, contrary to the requirements of the Act, no statement or certificate was delivered to Mr. Narine specifying the date and time of the breath test and his breath analysis results expressed in microgrammes of alcohol per each 100ml of breath.”
According to him, the magistrate noted that there was an absence of any evidence of the machine being recently calibrated, self-checked, or purged.
Causing death by dangerous driving
The charge of causing death by dangerous driving against Narine is currently ongoing before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
In relation to this charge, Narine has been granted $200,000 bail on condition that he lodge his passport with the court and report to the Police periodically until his trial ends.
Mekdeci died following the two-vehicle collision which took place at the intersection of Sandy Babb Street and Vlissengen Road, Georgetown in the vicinity of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Base Camp Ayanganna.
His friend, 31-year-old Sheik Baksh of Dowding Street, Kitty Georgetown, was hospitalised after the crash.
Police have said that the accident occurred at about 02:15h and involved motor car PXX 4592, driven by Baksh, and motor jeep PTT 4136, driven by Narine. The jeep was proceeding along Vlissengen Road while the motor car was travelling along Sandy Babb Street.
At the time of the accident, the driver of the motor car was reportedly crossing the intersection on the green light when the driver of the jeep failed to stop, thus causing a collision.
Mekdeci and Baksh sustained injuries to their bodies, and were picked up by an ambulance in an unconscious condition and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Baksh was admitted as a patient in the Emergency Unit of the hospital, suffering from a broken left arm, a laceration to the head, and a punctured left lung. Mekdeci, on the other hand, was pronounced dead on arrival.
A breathalyser test administered on the driver of the jeep proved that he was way above the legal limit of alcohol consumption, Police Headquarters had reported.
The late Mekdeci was a squash player who had participated in the Georgetown Squash Association-organised Squash League. In 2019, he performed exceptionally well in the Bounty Farm Handicap Squash Tournament. (G1)
