Teen driver set on $ 600,000 bail for Valentine’s Day accident
By Renay Sambach
Dying: Dakera Gittens.
Dead: Tonika Halley.
Kaieteur News – Yesterday, Rayon Alves, the 19-year-old driver of the motor vehicle involved in the Homestretch Avenue crash, Georgetown on Sunday who claimed the lives of two teenagers, made his first court appearance. He was placed on $ 600,000 bail.
Alves, defendant of Lot 1, East La Penitence, Georgetown, appeared at Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly.
He was slapped on two counts of causing death by dangerous driving charges and these were read to him in the presence of his lawyer, Dexter Todd. Alves denied both allegations.
The first charge alleged that he drove on a PVV 1289 motor vehicle on February 14, 2021 at Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown, in a dangerous manner to the public, thereby causing the death of 19-year-old Dakera Gittens of Nutmeg Street, Festival City, Georgetown.
The other charge allegedly drove the same vehicle in a dangerous manner to the public on the same date and at the same location, thereby causing the death of 18-year-old Tonika Halley, of Phase Two, East La Penitence, Georgetown.
During Todd’s address to the court, he applied for bail in a reasonable amount and said his client would adhere to any condition attached to the bail.
Accused: Rayon Alves.
Police Prosecutor Richard Harris told the court that Alves had gone home after the accident. The prosecutor also requested that Alves’ driver’s license be suspended, that his passport be issued and that he report to East La Penitence Police Station every Monday, pending the determination of the case.
Senior Magistrate Daly granted Alves $ 300,000 bail on each charge and ordered the prosecutor’s request. The matter was adjourned until March 15, 2021.
According to a police report, the accident happened around 00:30hrs on Valentine’s Day. The victims of the crash were all traveling in the car (PVV 1289) that Alves was driving.
The report noted that the teenage driver was heading west on the northern vehicle of the road, apparently at a rapid rate, when he lost control of the motor vehicle. As a result, the car crashed into a utility pole on the parapet before crashing a few times and coming to a stop in a nearby ditch.
Passengers of passing vehicles stopped to assist the car occupants, while others alerted police and the ambulance service.
The scene of the accident last Sunday.
Kaieteur News had reported that individuals with a public spirit had removed the occupants from the vehicle and rushed them to Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Based on video footage seen in this publication, Gittens lay in the hay while his friends and other persons stood around him. One man was heard saying, “The man went from [email protected]* #%. “Followed by another man saying,” Nah, no, it’s good. “
Then a woman started calling his name, as she reached down and touched his face. The shirt that Gittens was wearing was torn and bleeding, his hands had multiple cuts and he was panting for breath while blood flowed from the side of his face.
The woman continued saying, “Dakera, Dakera,” and rubbed her cheeks.
In another video, some people were seen near the corner of the trench in their attempt to find out if anyone else was in the vehicle. At the same time, police ranks were busy exploring the scene as Emergency Medical Technicians prepared Gittens, Halley and others to take them to hospital.
Gittens is said to have died at the scene and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital by a doctor. Halley, on the other hand, died while receiving medical attention. Their bodies were taken to Lyken Funeral Parlor.
After the accident, Alves was arrested at his home. A respiratory test carried out revealed no traces of alcohol in his system.
Two other car occupants, Delvern Luthers of Wortmanville, Georgetown, and Troy Glen of Laing Avenue, Georgetown, are still in hospital while another, Joel Rose of Durban Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown, has been released since then.