Roberto Narine, who was slapped with several charges in connection to the May 2022 accident that claimed the life of a young man, was today freed of the charge of driving under the influence of alcohol.
The charge was thrown out by Magistrate Clive Nurse when the matter came up at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
Narine was charged for driving with a breath alcohol level exceeding the limit contrary to Section 39A of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Cap. 51:02. The police alleged that his breath alcohol content was excessively over the limit after he was breathalysed twice at the Police Traffic Headquarters, Eve Leary.
Narine was represented by Attorney Siand Dhurjon while the police was represented by prosecutor Latchmi Rahamat.
A no case submission was made by Dhurjon and this was upheld the Magistrate.
The police led evidence of video footage of Narine being breathalysed and being shown the instrument’s reading of being over the limit: .162. 35 microgrammes in every 100ml of breath is the legal limit.
However, the court agreed with Dhurjon’s submissions that there was no evidence that the specific breathalyser instrument was approved for such use by the Minister as required by the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act.
Furthermore, there was no certificate adduced by the prosecutor to prove that the officer who conducted the breathalyser analysis was authorised to do such breath tests.
Dhurjon’s case was that an unauthorised officer conducted a flawed breathalyzer procedure on Narine using a device unapproved for the said purpose.
Magistrate Nurse remarked that the prosecution failed to prove the statutory requirements and the elements of their case. The Magistrate further said that Narine did not have to answer to the charge as filed by the police and he dismissed the charge under the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act.
Meanwhile, the charge of causing death by dangerous driving is currently ongoing before Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
Narine is accused of causing the death of Ian Mekdeci on May 1 at Sandy Babb Street, Georgetown.
Mekdeci, a former national squash player died in the wee hours of the morning following a two-vehicle collision at the intersection of Sandy Babb Street and Vlissengen Road in the vicinity of Camp Ayanganna.
His friend, Shaik Baksh of Dowding Street, Kitty was critically injured in the accident.
Police had stated that the accident occurred at about 02:15h and involved motor car PXX 4592 driven by Baksh and motor jeep bearing registration number PTT 4136 which at the time was being driven by Narine.
At the time of the accident, the jeep was proceeding along Vlissengen Road whilst the motor car was travelling along Sandy Babb Street.
However, upon approaching the intersection, the driver of the motor car was reportedly crossing on the ‘green light’ but the driver of the jeep failed to stop, thus resulting in a collision.
