Hit & Run Driver Indicted 3 Years After Fatal Accident in Corozal
Andrew Ramirez
There were a number of road traffic accidents across the country over the weekend and finally, there was one arrest for a fatal road traffic accident that occurred two years ago. Police have nailed an alleged hit and run driver and charged him several years after being on the lam. Humberto Novelo has been arraigned for several counts, including manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct and failure to report an accident among other charges. Police believe he was involved in the accident which claimed the life of Jairo Isaias Castillo. That accident occurred on February second, 2012 up north.
Via Phone: Supt. Andrew Ramirez, O.C., Corozal Police
“Three years ago to be precise, there was a man by the name of Jairo Castillo who was hit by a moving vehicle in the village of Concepcion. The incident happened before my tenure. I came and reviewed the file and the individual was asked if he wanted to go in an identification parade. He refused and brought his attorney, to which he has a right. There are other ways for identification and a witness came forward and called the police. His identity was led to be Mr. Humberto Novelo and as a result he was informed of his arrest and red his rights and charged for traffic related offences including manslaughter by negligence, death by careless conduct, driving without due care and attention. He met bail for five thousand dollars and should return to court on the twenty-sixth of May.
In other traffic news, forty-seven-year-old Faustino Orellana lost his life on Friday night when he was knocked down by a motorist traveling along the Southern Highway near Bella Vista Village. Shortly before nine-thirty, Independence police responded to a traffic accident in South Stann Creek where they saw a grey Toyota Four Runner on the side of the road. An investigation would reveal that forty-year-old Salvador Ack, a resident of Bella Vista was driving the sports utility vehicle towards Trio Village. Upon approaching the milepost, he observed Orellana riding the bicycle in the same direction. The Salvadoran laborer reportedly veered suddenly into the vehicle’s path and Ack could not avoid the collision. Orellana was rushed to the Independence Polyclinic where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Ack has since been served with a notice of intended prosecution. In the Corozal District less than twenty-four hours later, another man was struck by a vehicle as he attempted to run across the highway. Sometime around seven-thirty, police visited an area along the Phillip Goldson Highway between miles seventy-nine and eighty where they saw a white International truck on the roadside. They would later learn that the vehicle, driven at the time by fifty-five-year-old Daniel Perez of Trial Farm Village, was heading south when upon passing through San Joaquin Village he knocked down Aquilino Moh. The twenty-seven-year-old resident of Calcutta Village sustained injuries to the head and left foot and was transported to the Corozal Community Hospital where he is listed in critical condition. Perez has also been served with a notice of intended prosecution.
