Motorist convicted of dangerous driving banned for ten years

CONVICTED of dangerous driving, Brian Browne narrowly escaped the clanging of the prison gates yesterday, and was instead disqualified from holding a driver’s permit for ten years.  His permit was immediately confiscated by the court. The ban on his driving privileges was the sentence handed down to Browne by Madame Justice Alice Yorke Soo-Hon for convictions on four counts of dangerous driving. Browne was driving the car which crashed into 34-year-old Cecilia “Vena” Bousignac and her children Crystal, 11, Christopher, seven, Cleveland Jnr, four, and one-year-old Catherine as they walked along the Toco Main Road on the morning of March 23, 1999.  Baby Catherine was the sole Bousignac survivor on that fateful morning.

Browne was tried on four counts of vehicular manslaughter and dangerous driving charges and was acquitted of the manslaughter charges on Tuesday.  He was convicted of the lesser charges, for which he faced a maximum of six months in prison for each conviction. However, Soo-Hon felt that sending the 23-year-old man to prison would not serve any purpose and that his punishment was “already self-inflicted.” “Every time you pass there (the scene of the accident) you will be reminded of what happened there,” the judge told Browne, adding that he may have to pass there regularly on his way to and from his home in Big Bay, San Souci, Toco. 

In determining a fitting sentence, Soo-Hon said, she had considered the fact that he was a young inexperienced driver, who had undertaken a task which he could not have appreciated the reality of. Driving for more than 30 miles without stopping was an “awesome responsibility” his parents should not have placed on his “young shoulders,” the judge said, adding that the parents ought to share responsibility. Browne was 17-years-old at the time of the accident and had only received his driver’s permit four months earlier.

Also, the judge said, the fact that he had no previous convictions and was said to be of good character had worked in his favour.  Soo-Hon said she had also considered that Bousignac’s husband received monetary compensation, and that a trust fund had been set up for Catherine. Browne, who is the father of a ten-month-old baby, shied away from the media and left the Hall of Justice with an entourage of protective family members. He was represented by attorneys Israel Khan SC and Ronald Boynes.  State attorneys Nalini Singh and Tricia Hudlin prosecuted.