A 24-year-old Manchester, Berbice man attached to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was granted $1M bail when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates Court on Thursday to answer to the charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
Zamani Archibald, a Lance Corporal, pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him by Magistrate Judy Latchman.
The charge alleges that on March 11, 2017, at Soesdyke Public Road, East Bank Demerara, Archibald drove pickup DFB 1566 in a dangerous manner resulting in the death of 65-year-old Harry Persaud.
The accused is expected to re-appear in court on August 30, 2017.
Inews had previously reported that on the day in question, Harry Persaud, also called “Saw doctor”, a pensioner of Lot 7 Public Road, Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, was giving his 2-year-old granddaughter Divya Gurucharran a ride on his pedal cycle as he traversed the East Bank Demerara highway en route to the Rubis Service Station at Soesdyke to purchase an item, when a vehicle belonging to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) struck them off the cycle.
They were both picked up by the same GDF vehicle and taken to the Diamond Regional Hospital, where the 65-year-old Persaud was pronounced dead on arrival while his granddaughter was transferred to, and admitted a patient at, the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The Guyana Defence Force, in a statement, declared that a Board of Inquiry has been established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the accident, which occurred at about 10:30hrs and involved a pick-up that was driven by a GDF rank.
