Taxi driver in crash leaving five dead to spend Sabbath behind bars
Published:Thursday | November 16, 2023 | 12:11 AM
Albert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
DELROY RODNEY, a 47-year-old deacon in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Westmoreland and the man behind the wheel of a taxi involved in Monday’s motor vehicle collision in Bluefields that claimed the lives of five people, will have to spend this coming Sabbath in jail.
This is because he will have to wait until next week when his bail application will be determined. Rodney resides in the community of Belmont in the parish.
“He is not a flight risk. He has been at my chambers from 8:30 yesterday (Tuesday) morning,“ said his attorney, Faith Salmon, who sought to refute media reports that her client, who is the head deacon of the Belmont Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the parish, fled the scene of the accident.
“The defence made the application for bail, and the prosecution will respond on Monday (November 20) for the judge to give the final say,” Salmon told The Gleaner.
Rodney, who is represented by attorneys Lambert Johnson and Salmon, is charged with five counts of causing death by dangerous driving as a result of the deaths of 15-year-old schoolgirl Lavecia Forrester and her 39-year-old mother, Petrina Wallace, of Gordon District, Whitehouse, Westmoreland; Oneil Allen, and his mother, 65-year-old Angela Samuel, both of Mount Edgecombe; and 54-year-old Janet Thompson of McAlpine, also in Westmoreland.
Reports are that at about 3:30 p.m., on Monday, November 13, the five were aboard a grey Toyota Noah travelling in the opposite direction to a white truck when the collision took place. They were transported to hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
When he made his first appearance in the Westmoreland Parish Court yesterday before senior parish Judge Steve Walters. the accused man was supported by family members, his church community, and other public passenger vehicle operators who ply the Savanna-la-Mar to Whitehouse route.
Michael Baker, a taxi operator, said Rodney is “like a brother” to him.
“We know him to be a good and capable driver on the route, but unfortunately, something went wrong on this occasion,” Baker told The Gleaner outside the parish court yesterday.
“We don’t know - we weren’t there 0 but we are here to show our support so that he knows that he is not the only one in this. We are here together,” he continued.
Another taxi operator expressed condolences to the bereaved families.
“On behalf of myself and the Sav to Whitehouse taxi group, we want to express our deepest condolence to the bereaved families and friends,” Rick Taylor said via his social media handle, Facebook.
Continuing, he said: “Tragedy comes unexpectedly most of the time and death brings pain and heartache, but Jesus remains the answer. I ask for peace and comfort in these times of grief.”