Tearful Roger walks free
Published:Wednesday | January 19, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer
IT WAS a tearful Roger Clarke who exited the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday after he was freed of the charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
Clarke nodded as he was greeted by chants of "freedom". He walked toward a waiting motor vehicle and was whisked away from the courthouse shortly after the decision was read.
"Him get weh, hallelujah, t'ank yuh, Puppa Jeezas, him free," an old woman shouted after hearing the outcome.
Amid the celebration, there were persons who said they were hurt by the result.
"When mi hear seh dat him free, mi nearly faint, as mi still can't believe dat mi 25-year-old son really gone so soon," Jasmin Nicholson, the mother of the deceased, said.
She told The Gleaner that she was having a hard time trying to cope with her son, Daron Nicholson's, death.
"I have to stop working, as each day mi have flashback. It is a wicked feeling. I am really shocked by dis," the weeping mother said while being consoled by relatives.
After hearing the results of the inquiry, several motorists who were driving on White Church Street tooted their horns and flashed their lights.
After hearing from six witnesses during the preliminary inquiry, Resident Magistrate Ann-Marie Nembhard agreed that the Crown did not have sufficient evidence to go to the Circuit Court.
This was after lead attorney K.D. Knight submitted that it was clear that his client was not responsible for Nicholson's death.
Deadly collision
The former agriculture minister's charge arose from the August 23, 2010, incident in which Nicholson was killed after his motorbike collided with a Toyota Prado sport utility vehicle driven by Clarke.
During the inquiry, a representative of the Island Traffic Authority, Durrant Bennett, had testified that the motorcycle had some defects.
The Crown had led evidence that about 2:30 p.m. on the day in question, Clarke caused Nicholson's death along the Old Harbour Road main road.
A file was submitted to the clerk of courts and a ruling made that Clarke, 70, be charged.
He was defended by attorneys-at-law Leonard Green, John Junor and Knight.