Court to decide on punishment for ‘dangerous’ driver

The prosecution today suggested the imposition of a $10 000 fine in a death by dangerous driving case.

Wayne Ivan Cummins of Packers Valley, St Patrick’s, Christ Church was originally charged with causing the deaths of Omar Chase and Kevin Small on May 25, 2018 while driving his vehicle in a manner dangerous to the public.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving.

According to police, Chase and Small were travelling on a motorcycle when it was involved in a collision with Cummins’ van. The accident occurred along Foursquare Road, St Philip.

Lawyer Kevin Miller, who represented Cummins, made sentencing submissions to the court regarding the contractor who operates his own company.

Counsel urged the court against a custodial sentence and instead suggested the imposition of a fine of $8 000.

He said that fine would then be reduced when his client’s mitigating factors are taken into consideration.

Referring to the incident as “most unfortunate”, he drew the court’s attention to the victim impact statement in which a family member suggested that an apology and support for the deceased’s children would suffice.

The lawyer also asked the court to note his client’s guilty plea and cooperation with police.

Miller also addressed the court in relation to the licence disqualification and asked the judge not to consider doing this as it would “severely hamper” Cummins’ employment as a small contractor since he used his vehicle to move between jobs.

The court also heard that Miller drives his daughter to school.

Crown Counsel Kevin Robertson highlighted the various aggravating and mitigating factors in the case and said there was a “momentary dangerous error of judgment which led to the death of two young men”.

The aggravating factors, according to Robertson, included aggressive driving, as suggested by the attempt to overtake two cars at the same time; the death of more than one person; his age and experience, having driven for “quite some time”.

On the other hand, the prosecution said the mitigating factors were his good driving record, the fact that he has no previous convictions, his timely guilty plea and genuine remorse as outlined in the probation report.

Robertson suggested a fine of $10 000, making it clear that, given aggravating and mitigating factors, a custodial sentence was not merited.

A suspended sentence of two years and disqualification of his licence for a period were also suggested. Robertson discounted the arguments, made by Miller against disqualification, suggesting that other arrangements could be put in place.

Justice Laurie-Ann Smith Bovell will sentence Cummins on December 4, 2020 in the No. 4 Supreme Court.