Tunapuna traffic magistrate Andrew Stroude was yesterday cleared of charges of driving dangerously and driving without due care and attention. Mere hours after he was freed of the allegation, Stroude was seen presiding in the Port-of-Spain Third Magistrate's Court which had been recently allocated to hear Tunapuna-based matters because of the temporary closure of the Tunapuna Magistrates' Court. In dismissing the charges against Stroude, Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar, presiding in the the Port-of-Spain Eighth Court said there was insufficient evidence presented during Stroude's case to sustain the charges.
Stroude was represented by Senior Counsel Gilbert Peterson and Elaine Green, while Dana Seetahal, SC, served as special prosecutor for the matter. The charges against Stroude stemmed from an incident on January 7, 2009, in which Venezuelan pizza delivery driver, Juan Edgar Vasquez, 30, was killed while making deliveries on the Western Main Road, St James. Vasquez was knocked down by an SUV driven by Stroude. Vasquez, of Windsor Road, Goodwood Park, Glencoe, later succumbed to his injuries while at Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
The charges against Stroude were first dropped by former chief magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls in 2009. On appeal before Appeal Court Justices Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Rajendra Narine, the matter was ordered to be retried. On October 29, last year, during an inquest into the matter, Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan ruled that the incident was an accident. The charges against Stroude were laid by Superintendent Ragbath Gopersad, of St James Police Station.