Death-truck driver on $90,000 bond

A SAN FERNANDO High Court judge yesterday lamented the poor state of the nation’s prisons and inadequate provisions for medical care at penal institutions, after she placed a 71-year-old man on a $90,000 bond to keep the peace for three years. Mathura Lakhan was before her for sentencing for killing three persons in an accident five years ago. In addition to the bond, a frail-looking Lakhan also had his driver’s permit permanently disqualified by the courts. Lakhan was sentenced by Madame Justice Paula-Mae Weekes, who presided in the San Fernando First Criminal Court. Lakhan was found guilty two weeks ago for causing the death of three persons when he drove a mechanically defective truck down a busy street in San Fernando five years ago. He was sentenced yesterday after three delays.

In passing sentence, the judge lamented the poor state of medical facilities at the nation’s prisons calling it a “crying shame and national disgrace.” The judge also said this fact, coupled with the State’s limited tools available in sentencing in such cases, swayed her in imposing a bond on Lakhan rather than a custodial sentence. Given the state of Lakhan’s health (he suffered a heart attack during the trial) and testimony by doctors, Weekes said a custodial sentence may have turned out to be “an unintended death sentence.” The bond was set in the total of $90,000 — $30,000 for each of the three counts of vehicular manslaughter. As a sad and tired looking Lakhan emerged from the court and into the arms of his relieved relatives, he expressed hurt and remorse over the death of the accident victims saying, “I am really, really sorry that people died.”

“I feel well by the grace of God, and I always pray. I really sorry for the people who died, but I really tired right now,” he said. Lakhan was found guilty of the triple motor-manslaughter on June 1. A jury heard that on May 24, 1999, he drove a mechanically defective truck along St James Street in San Fernando, which subsequently collided with a maxi-taxi and two other vehicles. A total of 13 persons were injured in the accident, with three being killed. Justice Weekes, in passing sentence, noted that at two institutions where prisoners were kept, there were no Electro Cardiogram (ECG) machines or defibrillators readily available for prisoners and called this “a crying shame and national disgrace.”