Driver did not see child until he hit him

RANDALL BLACKMAN, who is charged with motor manslaughter in the death of 12-year-old Nicholas Johnson, claimed he was driving 25 to 30 miles per hour along Madras Road at the time of the accident. When the trial continued yesterday before Justice Malcolm Holdip at the Port-of-Spain  Third Criminal Court, Blackman’s statement the police on the day of the incident was read to the court. In it he claimed he encountered smoke from a bush fire; his car then came into contact with a child whose body landed on the windscreen of his car, then fell on the road. Blackman said he did not see the child until he came into contact with the car. He said the road was clear and no one saw what happened.  Blackman said he asked for assistance to carry the child to the Chaguanas Health Centre but no one wanted to accompany him so he took the child there himself. Pathologist Dr Hughvon DeVignes, who testified yesterday said Johnson suffered brain injury, fractures of his right leg bones, scrapes to his face, abrasions to his upper abdomen, lower chest and the right side of his pelvis and hip area. He said the boy died of complications of “blunt cranio cerebral traumatic injuries” or blunt force head injuries.