Delay hits nurse’s death by dangerous driving case

WESTERN BUREAU:

The trial of Dana Minto, the nurse charged with causing death by dangerous driving, was hit with its first delay last week when a ruling was made for the matter to undergo a plea and case management hearing in the St James Circuit Court on October 3.

The accused woman, who initially fled the scene after a 2017 vehicular accident that claimed the lives of two persons, later surrendered to the police and was arrested and charged.

Minto, who is being represented by attorney-at-law Trevor Ho Lyn, was given the new date when she made her first appearance before presiding High Court Justice Glen Brown in the St James Circuit Court yesterday.

Prior to a May 2 decision to transfer the case to the Circuit Court, the matter was postponed eight times in the lower court, where it was first heard on September 21, 2018.

The first five postponements, resulted from a delay in getting the black box data from Minto’s vehicle. In the subsequent instances, it was because the judge with responsibility for the matter was unavailable.

The allegations against Minto are that on November 13, 2017, she was driving her Toyota Ipsum vehicle along Felicity Road in Glendevon, St James, when she attempted to overtake another motorist. She reportedly lost control of the vehicle, which struck 15-year-old Shantae Rose, her mother and sister, as well as 52-year-old Franklyn Hylton, who were all standing along the roadway.

Rose, who was a grade-10 student of Green Pond High School, and Hylton, a heavy-equipment operator, were killed on the spot.

Rose’s mother and sister were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries.

Once Minto’s trial begins, it is expected that the accident reconstruction report will play a key role in the evidence against her. It was noted during Minto’s committal hearing that the accident report said that she went through an intersection before hitting a drainage bump.

Christopher Thomas