Separate accidents leave three dead and one injured
Separate accidents over the weekend have resulted in the deaths of three people and the hospitalization of a fourth. At around four-thirty Saturday morning taxi driver Byron Williams of Pomona New Site crashed into the back of a bus at mile eleven and a half on the Stann Creek Valley Road. No one was injured on the bus, which was carrying an excursion of students to the Corozal Free Zone, but Williams died of his injuries at the Southern Regional Hospital.
Later that morning, around nine-thirty, Bella Vista villager fifty-two year old Antonio Mamin was riding his bicycle on the Southern Highway when he was knocked down. According to nineteen year old driver Victor Teul, he was in a Madisco company truck travelling from Bella Vista towards Punta Gorda when the cyclist suddenly swerved in front of him. Mamin, suffering from severe head and body injuries, apparently died at the scene. Teul has since been charged with Manslaughter by Negligence, Causing Death by Careless Conduct and Driving Without Due Care and Attention. Tonight he is out on bail following a court appearance in Dangriga earlier today.
Police are also going to charge another man, Victor Gillett of Crooked Tree with charges following a head on collision on the Northern Highway. The crash took place around six-thirty on Sunday evening between miles nineteen and twenty in Sand Hill Village. Today Officer Commanding the Ladyville and Hattieville areas, Inspector Calbert Flowers told us that’s where a decision to overtake proved fatal.
Insp. Calbert Flowers, Regional Cmdr., Ladyville & Hattieville
“Initial police investigations revealed that both vehicles were travelling in the same direction coming from a northerly direction heading towards Belize City. Investigations reveal that the driver of the red pickup truck was trying to overtake, but due to oncoming traffic he was unable to overtake and he collided into the white Toyota Hilux, causing it to go out of control and flip several times. The driver of that vehicle was Gilbert Chun, who received several injuries. He had two other passengers along with him, who were transported to the K.H.M.H. Mr. Chun later died as a result of those injuries. The driver of the pick-up fled the scene and escaped unhurt. He was detained later that same night.”
Police are planning to charge Gillett with Manslaughter by Negligence, Causing Death by Careless conduct, Driving Without Due Care and Attention, Driving a Motor Vehicle Without a Valid Driver’s License, Driving an Uninsured Motor Vehicle and Fleeing the Scene. If test results prove Gillett was drinking, he will be additionally charged with driving a motor vehicle with alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit.
Meanwhile, a Belize Defence Force soldier of the Belize Corozal Road in Orange Walk is also detained pending charges for another knockdown. That accident happened between miles fifty-four and fifty-five on the Northern Highway just before midnight on Sunday. Police say that thirty-five year old Juan Cal was heading towards Orange Walk in a grey car when he knocked down forty-one year old Luis Alonzo Campos. Campos was taken to the Orange Walk hospital with injuries to his forehead, left hand, and both shoulders. The victim remains admitted to ward in stable condition.
