The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Regarding your editorial on Friday, January 21, 2021 all right-thinking persons share your outrage and the magistrate’s apparent regret at the pathetically-lenient penalties imposed in this case.

However, was the learned magistrate wrongly advised as to the law? Section 44 of the Road Traffic Act lays down a penalty for killing in the course of reckless or dangerous driving of: “a fine not less than five thousand dollars but not exceeding ten thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term of four years, or to both the fine or imprisonment” (my emphasis).

Equally, for the premeditated and very serious crime of driving without insurance, the penalty under Section 16 is “a fine of two hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term of three months or to both such fine and imprisonment” (again, my emphasis).

If the learned magistrate was in fact wrongly advised (twice), can the Office of The Attorney-General appeal both these convictions, which clearly give the wrong signal to the motoring public?

If this is the case, can the authorities also employ some qualified and/or competent persons in the courts to give our hard-working magistrates correct legal advice?

AEQUITAS

Nassau,

January 24, 2022.