Englishman warned to return for hearing

ENGLISH resident Miles O’Connor was yesterday warned by Magistrate Hyacinth Yorke-Young that if he did not show up for his scheduled April 19 hearing, he would be found and brought back. O’Connor is scheduled to leave for England today.

“You are being allowed to leave the country on the strength of your uncle’s goodwill and reputation,”she said. “This does not mean that when this matter is called you find it wise not to show up. Don’t let anyone have to come looking for you because we will find you,” she warned. His uncle, Peter O’Connor, sat somberly listening to the proceedings. The younger O’Connor was charged with causing the deaths of Venezuelan Jose Alexis Gonzales Berbesi, 38, and Dhanmatee Harrylal, 32, of Bank Village Carapichaima. It is alleged that O’Connor was driving one of the vehicles involved in a three-vehicle smash-up at the intersection of the Priority Bus Route and the Morvant intersection on Christmas Day, in which Berbesi and Harrylal were killed. He was arrested and charged by Cpl Carol Cox-Hickson of the Barataria Police Station.

O’Connor, of Whitney Drive, Hertfordshire, England, had been granted bail in the sum of $200,000 to cover the two charges and his passport had been confiscated when he appeared before Magistrate Betsy-Ann Peterson-Lambert on December 31, 2003. However, Yorke-Young had on Wednesday returned the passport but increased the bail to $600,000, since O’Connor was being allowed to leave the jurisdiction. The 23-year-old student was represented by attorneys Ravi Rajcoomar and Andre Des Vignes.