A 40-year-old tout was remanded to prison this week after he admitted to four of five traffic-related charges stemming from a January incident that left a pedestrian injured and a minibus badly damaged.
Greg Gaskin
Greg Gaskin of Lot 621 Princess Street, Lodge, Georgetown, appeared before Senior Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, where he was charged in connection with an accident that occurred on January 10 along Lombard Street, Georgetown. The charges included taking a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, dangerous driving, driving without a licence, breach of insurance, and failing to report an accident within 24 hours.
Gaskin pleaded not guilty to the charge of taking the vehicle without permission, claiming he had been given the bus to use. However, he pleaded guilty to the remaining four charges. According to the particulars, Gaskin had taken minibus BYY 9767 and, despite not being the holder of a driver’s licence, proceeded to operate it on public roads. During this time, he caused a crash that resulted in damage to both the minibus and another vehicle and reportedly injured a pedestrian. He also failed to notify the authorities of the accident within the required 24-hour window and was found to be driving without valid insurance coverage.
When asked to explain his actions, Gaskin admitted in court that he did not possess a driver’s licence and would occasionally drive the bus around the park and surrounding area. The magistrate highlighted that by doing so, he was not covered under the vehicle’s insurance and asked how he planned to compensate the owner. Gaskin told the court that he had already repaired the private car involved in the crash and only had the bus left to fix.
The owner of the minibus was present in court and informed the magistrate that Gaskin had made repeated promises to repay the damages but had failed to do so. He explained that his vehicle had been in the workshop since the incident and that he was forced to use another bus to provide for his family. He estimated the repair costs at more than $500,000, stating that the entire side of the minibus was smashed and a new door and body panel would need to be purchased.
The magistrate enquired whether the owner had an estimate, to which he responded that he could provide one from the bodywork specialist. She then turned to Gaskin and asked whether he was willing to pay for the damages, and he said that he was, noting that he had previously spoken to the owner about settling the matter and even mentioned approaching a Justice of Peace (JP) officer for an agreement. However, the bus owner said the defendant only talked about settling but never provided any actual money and added that one cannot enter into a JP agreement without money up front.
Gaskin argued that he too had a family to provide for and had not yet been able to make payments but insisted that he was still willing to pay. When asked by the magistrate if he had made any contributions at all since the incident in January, he admitted that he had not.
The prosecution objected to bail on the charge of dangerous driving, noting that a pedestrian had been injured during the crash. The magistrate, who was unaware of the injury until then, requested that the prosecution follow up with the pedestrian to gather further details.
As a result, Gaskin was fined and granted bail on four of the five charges. He was fined $30,000 for driving without a licence, $20,000 for taking the vehicle without consent, $40,000 for breach of insurance, and $30,000 for failing to report the accident.
However, due to the pedestrian’s injury and the seriousness of the dangerous driving charge, bail was denied for that particular offence, and Gaskin was remanded to prison until his next court date on July 21.
