A security consultant's wait to clear his name in the death of a female driver finally ended yesterday when he was acquitted by a Port-of-Spain jury. Ryan Mohammed, of Arima, who waited more than eight years to clear his name, was freed after the jury deliberated for an hour and ten minutes. He was before Justice Carla Brown-Antoine in the Sixth Criminal Court charged with causing the death of marketing executive Ariane Camille Benjamin by dangerous driving.
The accident took place in November, 2002. While Mohammed was elated at the verdict, Benjamin's father, Allan, who had been present for each day of the trial, seemed to be in disbelief at the decision. The state, through prosecutor Randall Hector, had alleged that on November 10, 2002 Mohammed ran a red light at the intersection of Pasea Main Road and the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and crashed into Benjamin's rented Hyundai Accent which was heading east. Benjamin, died at hospital hours later.
