‘I blacked out while driving car’

MANSLAUGHTER accused Solomon Mehandibaig testified yesterday in the San Fernando High Court that he “blacked out” while at the steering wheel of his car and was not conscious when he struck and killed a 19-year-old girl in Rio Claro, five years ago. Mehandibaig said that at the time he was bleeding profusely from chop wounds he sustained and was driving towards a health centre for medical treatment.

The accused took the witness stand in the Second Criminal Court and testified in his defence before the mixed nine-member jury. Mehandibaig, 46, is on trial before Madame Justice Alice Yorke-Soo Hon accused of unlawfully killing 19-year-old Natalie Subnarine at Bucket Corner, Naparima Mayaro Road, Poole Village. The case continues today when defence and State attorneys will give their closing addresses to the jury.