A Prospect van driver, on Wednesday, saw his guilty plea vacated on a charge that he littered by throwing, out of his vehicle, a traffic ticket that he had been issued.
Shafeek Castello would now be tried on Nov. 28 on a charge that on Oct. 16, at Richmond Hill, being the driver of H5273, he did throw litter onto a public place, to wit the Richmond Hill Public Road.
The court heard that a police officer was on duty near Girls’ High School when he saw the vehicle near the bus stop with loud music coming from it.
The officer asked the driver to turn down the music, and the driver responded, “Officer, it low already.
The police officer told Castello he was going to issue him with a ticket and asked for his driver’s licence.
After the police officer gave Castello the ticket, he told the police officer he was not going to take it.
The officer placed the ticket and the driver’s licence in Castello’s lap and Castello threw the ticket out of the van and started misbehaving.
As a result, he was taken to the Central Police Station, where he was charged with littering.
However, Castello told the court that the officer had thrown the ticket on him.
“But you were refusing to take it from him. Why weren’t you taking the ticket? If you had accepted the ticket, there would have not have been any need to put the ticket on you,” the magistrate said, and the defendant agreed.
The defendant further told the court that he threw the ticket out of the vehicle when it was issued.
After hearing further explanations by the defendant, the magistrate said that Castello was raising some issues that were forcing the court to enter a not guilty plea.
However, prosecutor Sergeant of Police Parnel Browne told the court that he does not know what the defendant meant when he said the officer had thrown the ticket on him.
Browne told the court that on many occasions, drivers have complained that police officers had thrown traffic tickets on them.
He said that during his inquiries, the drivers would also admit that they had refused to take the ticket from the police officers.
The prosecutor told the court that he had no objection to going to trial in the case.
These van drivers are very reckless and disrespectful. They speed, stop in the middle of the road and play their music very loud. Sometimes I ask myself who rule these roads. Is it the police or the van drivers?
They should be issued tickets upon tickets until they are in full complliance with the law. The Magistrate’s should charge him $4000 for littering or 12 months in prison. Teach him a lesson.
I was recently commending the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines from Arnos Vale to Country, Bequia and the other Islands for the prestine manner in which the streets are kept. Although Kingstown need some work. Bequia and the country side and Leeward side down to Layou appears to be very clean. This beauty is spoilt by the recklessness of the van drivers and their toxic exhaust. There is a need for greater police presence on the streets in the country on Leeward side.
On a recent trip home I made the following observation. The van drivers that operates between Marriaqua and Lowmans are insanely reckless. Those that operate outside of Kingstown still play their music excessively loud when out of the presence of the Police. The Police therefore needs to be more vigilant and forceful.
Police have real crimes to solve … how about if they focus on doing that and liaise with the minibus association to find more engaging and mutually beneficial ways to solve the traffic issues… kmt