Georgetown: Former Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Rear Admiral (rtd), Gary Best walked was freed of the charge of causing death by dangerous driving on Thursday after Magistrate Rondell Weaver upheld a no-case submission made by defence attorney, Nigel Hughes.
Magistrate Weaver upheld the no-case submission on the grounds that the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence.
Subsequently, the case was dismissed at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and Best, 61, of Sparedaam, East Coast Demerara walk out a free man.
Best was out on $500,000 bail during trial. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that on February 8, 2020, at Clive Lloyd Drive, Georgetown, he drove motorcar PRR 8182 in a dangerous manner which resulted in the death of national cyclist, Jude Bentley.
The Magistrate said that the prosecutor failed to establish that Best was driving dangerously, which led to the death of Bentley.
Best, is however, is still before City Magistrate, Clive Nurse for the offence of driving under the influence of alcohol. The 41-year-old national cyclist was killed on the Rupert Craig Highway on February 8 while training; he was struck down by a Land Cruiser driven by Best.
Best was initially taken into custody but was released on $100,000 station bail. He was found to be way above the alcohol limit at the time of the accident.
Two weeks after his death, Bentley’s friends and family picketed outside the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and called for charges to be laid against Best.
“I am happy that the matter has now come to an end and what played out in court is exactly what happened and I just both families can move on,” Best told reporters outside of the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
“I said at the time when the accident occurred, I said I did regret the fact that Mr Jude Bentley died. It was an accident,” Best said. “The facts laid out in court showed that I was not driving dangerously in any way and I did not deliberately cause his death. I hope we can all move on,” he expressed.
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