Drunk driver’s victims get $15,000 grant

SEETA PERSAD

Relief is on the way for a displaced family in Debe through emergency relief funds from the Ministry of Housing.

Vijanti Seudath, whose house was partially destroyed by a drunk driver on December 9, got a phone call last Friday from a ministry official who promised her a $15,000 grant.

Housing Minister Randall Mitchell confirmed to Sunday Newsday that he had told a ministry employee to contact the family and make arrangements for the grant.

“The relevant officer will review the documents on the property and then this funding will be processed,” Mitchell said.

He said there was no available housing to accommodate Seudath’s family, which has been split up since Nigel Jacob, 42, crashed a car into the front of their house and knocked down the concrete wall of the family’s dining room.

Furniture and appliances were also destroyed. Seudath told Sunday Newsday that she received a telephone call from the minister’s office and a staff member told her to submit certain documents.

“I am happy that the government is assisting all eight members, because the family have been scattered,” Seudath said.

She said this Christmas will still be painful for the family, which consists of four children, two housewives and their respective husbands, who are all staying at different locations. “Eight persons are out of a home for the Christmas season,” Seudath said.

In his first court appearance before Magistrate Lisa Singh-Phillip, in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Courton last Monday, Jacob pleaded guilty to driving dangerously under the influence of alcohol (105 mg per 100 ml), without driver’s licence and without insurance.

When he returned the next day for sentencing, Seudath said the family forgave Jacob who promised to pay the cost of rebuilding the damaged house, which the woman estimated at $40,000.

Jacob was fined $1,000 for driving without a licence and he has been disqualified from obtaining one for three years.

He was fined $4,000 for driving without insurance. He is on $50,000 bail to return to court on January 9.