Judge pleads not guilty to careless driving charge in T&T

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – High Court judge Kevin Ramcharan has pleaded not guilty to a charge of careless driving after the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) discontinued a case of dangerous driving against him yesterday.

Justice Ramcharan will re-appear in court on December 17.

The judge had appeared before Magistrate Duane Murray in the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday, but senior prosecutor Mauriceia Joseph said the DPP was not proceeding with the charge of dangerous driving, and instead substituted it with careless driving.

Ramcharan, who in September had pleaded not guilty to the original charge, also pleaded not guilty to the new charge.

His attorney, Senior Counsel Gilbert Peterson, is also expected to make submissions for the defence.

The judge was arrested in May after a minor traffic accident in Maraval on the outskirts of the capital.

The police said that the judge was driving his Range Rover on May 26 when he collided with another vehicle.

He made a report to the police, and while at the station he was asked to submit to a breathalyser test.

At the time his blood alcohol level was tested, he was in excess of the legal limit, at 55 micrograms.

When the judge first appeared in court on May 28, the prosecution made an application to amend the charge of driving under the influence of alcohol since it was laid under the wrong section of the law.

It was later amended.