Diego man charged with dangerous driving

Six months after TV6 video editor Kevin Ward lost his life in a vehicular accident, Ward’s childhood friend has appeared in court charged with causing his death by dangerous driving. Kore Joseph, 26, of Diego Martin Main Road, Diego Martin, was arrested yesterday after a warrant, which was issued on Monday, was executed on him shortly before 8 am.

Ward sustained serious injuries in the accident in Barataria last year, in which he was thrown through a rear window of the vehicle. He later died in his mother’s arms at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, shortly after telling her he believed he would not live.

Joseph, who has been employed as a technician at Vemco Limited for the past two-and-a-half years, was slapped with five charges arising out of the accident, which occurred around 6 am on July 14, 2012, at the corner of Sixth Avenue and the Priority Bus Route, Barataria.

He appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Court, represented by attorney Mansergh Griffith. The charges include driving without insurance, breaching the no-right turn traffic sign, causing the death of Ward by dangerous driving, uttering a forged insurance document in the name of Kore Joseph and uttering a document closely resembling a certificate of insurance so as to deceive.

Appealing for reasonable bail, Griffith told the court Joseph had no previous convictions or pending matters and it was his first brush with the law. While Joseph had to be coaxed to lift his head and speak up during the proceedings, his immediate family, including mother, father, sister and grandmother, remained quietly seated in the backbench of the public gallery looking on intently. None of Ward’s relatives were present.

With no objections from Sgt Lochan on the issue of bail, Ayers-Caesar granted Joseph bail in the amount of $90,000 with a surety to be approved by a clerk of the peace II or III only. Ordering Joseph to surrender his passport and report to the West End Police Station every Monday, Ayers-Caesar later adjourned the matter to January 30.