Dangerous driving trial: Accused recalls loud bang after pulling into bushes

Shawn Whittaker told the No. 5A Supreme Court that after seeing a vehicle coming towards him along Cox Road, he pulled his vehicle left into a bushy area and moments later heard a loud bang.

Whittaker of Bedford Way, Arthur’s Seat, St Thomas, is accused of causing the death of Richard Griffith by dangerous driving on Cox Road, Christ Church, on September 19, 2020.

Giving an unsworn statement from the dock, Whittaker said that he was travelling along Cox Road approaching the straight road, and saw a vehicle coming around the corner.

He said: “It was coming towards me, and to avoid the collision, I pull on my left, because I could feel the bushes raking on the side of the van. I pulled left into a bushy area, because the vehicle was coming to my right fender.

As I was pulling, I heard a loud bang at the back of my vehicle, which pushed me further in the bushes, and my vehicle spun and ended in the middle of the road.

Whittaker testified that he could not move the car and when he got out, saw the back wheel pushed into the fender and the drag shaft removed from the gearbox.

He recalled looking up the road and not seeing any vehicle or brake lights, and assumed that the other vehicle had hit him and left.

“But then I turned on my cell phone light and shone it up the road and ran up the road. Then I saw the car wrapped around a tree, and I went to the driver’s side, because I saw the driver hanging out of the car. I went up to him and I realised that he wasn’t breathing.”

Whittaker said he heard a vehicle approaching, ran back to the road to get assistance and called the police to report the accident. He later said that the ambulance personnel checked him out, and he told them that he had not been hurt in any way, but he was in shock and crying.

He described continually reliving the incident, adding that since the start of the trial, he has not been sleeping.

Also giving evidence was Keilston Walrond, Griffith’s friend of over 20 years. He said that around 11 p.m., he had met with the deceased at a bar in Vauxhall in Christ Church, to lime as there was karaoke.

“His brother Brad was there…I came out of the shop, spoke to everybody around. I went to the deceased. Spoke to him as well, asked him if he wanted something to drink and bought him two beers,” he said.

Walrond recounted that Griffith had been waiting for food and, after receiving it, said he was going home.

He continued: “I walked him to the car and I said to him: ‘You know what you supposed to do.’ He said ‘Yes’, I asked him if he wanted me to take home his brother. He said: ‘No, he got it’. He got into the car, waited for it to warm up and then proceeded to leave. After that, I got a phone call a while later saying that the ‘godfather’ had passed away’. I tell the body ‘ya’ll telling me lies’ and I hung up. They proceeded to call back, and that was when I was aware that he had gotten into a fatal accident.”

Principal State Counsel Romario Straker and State Counsel Eleazar Williams are prosecuting the case, while defence attorneys Faith Greaves and Kelly-Ann Blackman represent Whittaker.

Closing arguments in the trial before Justice Christopher Birch are set for Friday.