Woman pleads guilty in road death

Thirty-one year old Cruz Seren, a Belizean clothes vendor, charged with Manslaughter by Negligence, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of Causing Death by Careless Conduct today in the court of Justice Herbert Lord. Instead of giving her a custodial sentence, Lord fined her two thousand, five hundred dollars. He ordered Seren to pay half of the money by May thirtieth and the balance by September thirtieth. If she defaults on payment she will serve twelve months behind bars. The incident occurred around eight a.m. on November twenty-sixth 2005 between miles fifty-four and fifty-five on the Hummingbird Highway. Seren was driving her Honda Accord toward Dangriga when the car collided into twenty-eight year old Salvadoran Manuel De Jesus Garcia who was riding his bicycle on the left side of the highway, coming from the opposite direction. Garcia received injuries to his head and body when he was thrown from his bicycle and was pronounced dead on arrival at Western Regional Hospital. Before he decided on the sentence, Justice Lord heard a plea for mitigation from Seren’s attorney, Oswald Twist. He said that Seren is sorry for what happened and she did stop and rendered assistance to Garcia by taking him to the hospital. When tested there the victim’s blood alcohol level was well above the legal limit, had he been driving a motor vehicle instead of a bike.