Bail extended for bus driver in mass-fatality crash

Thirty-two-year-old Dwayne Fowler, the bus driver charged in connection with the deaths of five people and the injury of 18 others, had his bail extended in the St Catherine Parish Court last Friday.

Fowler will return to court on December 14.

It is alleged that Fowler, the driver of a 2012 Toyota Hiace bus travelling along the P.J. Patterson Highway in St Catherine on April 12, lost control of the vehicle while attempting to overtake a truck. The Hiace reportedly sustained a tyre blowout and slammed into the back of the truck and then into the concrete median, flipping several times and causing passengers to be flung from the vehicle.

Those killed were 44-year-old construction worker, Dwight Geohagen of Mandeville; Cornelia Montague, 37, of Harry Watch; Christopher Barrett, 32, of Knockpatrick; Lydia Petrina Brown, 43, of Spur Tree, and 20-year-old Janelia Maitland. Besides Maitland, who lived in St Andrew, the other four resided in Manchester.

Fowler was subsequently charged with five counts of manslaughter. He is on $700,000 bail.