Driver who smashed Debe house confesses to magistrate: I drank 7 beers and 4 Puncheon

The man who crashed a car into the dining room of a family’s home in Debe, south Trinidad on Saturday, confessed to a magistrate yesterday that he had drunk seven beers and four shots of Puncheon rum.

Nigel Jacob, 42, will know his fate today in the San Fernando magistrates’ court on five charges: driving under the influence of alcohol, driving a car without the owner’s consent, not being the holder of a permit, driving without insurance and driving in a dangerous manner.

Magistrate Lisa Singh-Phillip remanded Jacob into custody after he pleaded guilty to all the charges.

Jacob, of Palo Seco, ran off the Wellington Road and veered about 100 feet in a Nissan Note car before crashing into Vijanti Seudath’s concrete house, where two families live. Fortunately, members of the family were all in the yard at the time.

Prosecutor Sgt Saunders related to Singh-Phillip that at about 6 pm, Desiree Sambury gave Jacob the keys to her car to keep and went to use the bathroom at a bar in Debe where they were drinking. Sambury and Jacob work as security guards at the bar. When she returned, she did not see Jacob or her car.

Yesterday, Saunders said Sambury told police she had not given Jacob permission to use her car.

At about 7 pm, police responded to a report that a family had to run for safety when a car crashed into their home on Wellington Road. When the police arrived they saw Jacob sitting in the car, the front part of which was inside the family’s dining room.

The prosecutor told the magistrate that when interviewed, Jacob said he did not have a driver’s licence. Asked if he had been drinking, he replied, “I had six beers and some puncheon.” PC Vishal Ramsaroop charged him.

Jacob pleaded guilty, but told the magistrate Sambury had given him the keys to the car to drive. Singh-Phillip entered a plea of not guilty.

Saunders also told Singh-Phillip, when asked how much he had to drink, Jacob replied, “Officer, I had seven to eight beers and three to four drinks of Puncheon. I had the Puncheon with ginger ale.”

A breathalyser test revealed that the alcohol content in his breath was 105 mg per 100 mm. The legal limit is 35 mg.

Saunders told the magistrate the damage to the family’s belongings consisted of two space savers, four chairs, a table, a stereo set and a couch. Singh-Phillip asked Jacob whether he would compensate the family for the damage and he replied, “Ma’am, I dunno if some of the things must be already damage.”

Singh-Phillip told the prosecutor to have the police complainant ascertain the value of the damaged furniture for today’s sentencing.

She remanded him into custody.

On the not-guilty plea of driving the car without the owner’s consent, he was granted $10,000 bail to reappear on December 18.