CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – MORNING STAR resident Roylston Caines walked out the Charlestown High Court yesterday (Apr. 28) a free man after being found not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and dangerous driving.
The case brought against Caines was that by dangerous driving he caused the death of 18-year-old Valencia Robins on the island’s main road in the vicinity of Caribbean Cove on January 18, 2008.
The prosecution’s main witness, Shenise Richards, testified that she and her friend left RAM’s Supermarket and was walking along the main road when she observed a black pick-up approaching from downtown Charlestown area at a fast rate. She said the vehicle was swerving from left to right and after it passed her she heard it hit the white pole on RAM’s junction. She said the pick-up hit the railing and came to a stop about 50 feet away.
According to the witness, when she looked back she did not see Valencia who had been walking behind her. She ran back and saw her friend lying face-up in the drain with one leg up.
Richards stated that she called 911 and her mother and told them what had happen. She also said that she never knew the accused until the time of the incident, and that when the accused came out of the vehicle and saw what had happen he cried out, “Oh my God.” The witness also said that the accused tried to move Valencia and she told him on numerous occasions not to do so because he might break some part of her body.
Under cross examination Richards was asked if she say what happened, and her reply was that she heard when the pick-up hit the railing that Valencia was behind.
Police Officer Michael, in his testimony, said the distance between where the vehicle stopped and the accident occurred was 75 feet. He also stated that he smelled alcohol on the breath of the accused and found one bottle of hard rum in his vehicle. The officer said that he took the accused to the hospital to take a blood sample for further investigations.
Under cross examination the officer was asked by the attorney why the blood was not tested to verify if the accused was intoxicated. In response, the officer said when he took the sample to the lab he was told that the blood was too old to be tested.
Other witnesses for the prosecution were Dr. Ravi Shankar, Forensic Pathologist Dr. Jesus De Brook and father of the victim Vaughn Anslyn.
Dr. Shankar told the court that he examined the body of Robins and she was unresponsive to physical stimulus. Dr. De Brook said Robins suffered a parieto-temporal right bone fracture of the skull and that the direct cause of death was traumatic shock.
Anslyn stated that he was at the hospital when they pronounced his daughter dead around 8:30 p.m.
Caines was silent in his defence after the prosecution closed its case.
Following closing remarks by defence counsel Chesley Hamilton and Crown counsel Reynold Benjamin, the jurors left to decide Caines fate. They returned two hours and 40 minutes later at 6:55 p.m. with not guilty verdicts on both charges. On the first count of causing death by dangerous driving the vote was 11-1, while on the count of driving dangerously it was 10-2.
SKNVibes spoke with Hamilton who said: “There are no winners in this case. It is real sad a young woman lost her life and I hope there will be an inquest so all the issues in this matter can be properly ventilated.”
Roylston Caines, in an invited comment, said: “My condolences go out to the family of the deceased. I can’t replace the lost but I wish that they find strength in God”.
