Manslaughter accused failed breathalyserBy Ben Greening © Copyright by The Royal Gazette Ltd Bermuda, January 12, 2000 A man who allegedly killed a German student in a road accident had three rounds of drinks before he got into his car, a Supreme Court jury heard yesterday. And breathalyser tests taken by 33-year-old Bissoonduthsing Ramchurn after the collision, in which 23-year-old Catrin Schaefer received fatal injuries, showed him to be over the legal alcohol limit. The trial, in its second day, is piecing together events leading up to and after the accident, which happened on Kindley Field Road, St. George's in the early morning hours of September 27, 1998. The Mauritian-born St. George's resident, who has resided here for ten years, has denied the charge of manslaughter ever since his arrest, and he pleaded not guilty to two other charges, including causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by driving while over the lawful alcohol limit, when they were put to him on Monday. During those proceedings, the five-woman, seven-man jury heard how Ms Schaefer had been on a week-long biology trip to Bermuda, with five other students from Heinrich Heire University in Dusseldorf, when the head-on collision occurred between her rented scooter and Ramchurn's Toyota Starlet. Witnesses testified that Ms Schaefer "only had Coke" while the group, who was based at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, were celebrating at The Swizzle Inn just before the accident. And her professor, Christopher Bridges, called her a "confident and prudent driver". Her friend Thorsten Kisters, who was riding his cycle just behind Ms Schaefer, said he saw a car driving "at a very high speed on our side of the road" just before the collision. "Being just behind her," he said on Monday, "I had time to react and drive onto the grass, but she didn't." In yesterday's proceedings, Crown counsel Sandra Bacchus called Police officers and civilians to the stand to bolster the case against Ramchurn. Former Swizzle Inn bartender Tracy Burgess described how she served Ramchurn, whom she knew as Dave, and his friend three rounds of beer in the hours before the fatal accident took place. Ms Burgess added that Ramchurn had been involved in "an altercation" with another patron while at the pub which apparently started over whose turn it was to use the pool table. But, in cross-examination by defence attorney Philip Perinchief, the witness said she "never actually saw" Ramchurn drink all three beers himself and that he "did not appear to be too intoxicated" when he left, about half an hour before the accident happened.
The legal alcohol limit is 80 milligrammes of alcohol to every 100 millilitres of blood.
The lawyer also suggested that the solution used by the machines was two months old and therefore unreliable in giving accurate results.
Police Sgt. Franz Williams, who arrived on the scene of the accident just after it happened, said while walking towards Ramchurn's damaged car, he saw "a large indentation to the front, a shattered windscreen and fluid expending from the bottom of the car". "I approached Mr. Ramchurn," he said, "who was wearing a white shirt with bloodstains from a laceration to his forehead." Sgt. Williams noted how he smelt a strong smell of intoxicants on the man's breath but added: "He seemed to be steady on his feet and his voice was not slurred. "When he was informed he was going to be arrested, Mr. Ramchurn indicated that he was not drunk. He told another officer that he had only had one Guinness." During cross-examination by Mr. Perinchief, Sgt. Williams also revealed that Ramchurn had said: "(Ms Schaefer) was the one who was speeding. I was only doing 35 kph." Ramchurn, who is on $5,000 bail, will return to court today when the trial continues before Puisne Judge Philip Storr. |
