Man in court for fatal Beetham Highway accident

A PETIT Valley man has appeared before a Port of Spain magistrate charged with causing the death of chef Joe Brown and British citizen Joanna Banks on November 10 last year, on the Beetham Highway.

Junior McIntyre, 31, of Cameron Road, appeared on Monday before acting deputy Chief Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine in the Port of Spain 5th Magistrates’ Court on three charges – two of causing death by dangerous driving and a third of driving dangerously.

When he first appeared just after 10 am, only one of the three charges was read out to him by the magistrate. He pleaded not guilty to the charge that he drove PBX 8364 dangerously and was told his case was being transferred to the 6th court, where he will appear on September 4.

Long after he left the precincts of the courthouse on St Vincent Street, Port of Spain, McIntyre had to return to the court, where the other two charges were read to him that he caused the deaths of Brown – whose full name was Adrian Joseph Brown – and Banks. For those charges he was put on $200,000 bail when he surrendered at the Besson Street police station on Saturday. Antoine did not alter the bail sum and those matters were also transferred to the 6th Court. McIntyre is represented by attorneys Larry Williams and Melissa Boodhai.

Brown, 63, and Banks, 40, were cycling east along the highway near Beetham Gardens with 12 other members of the Slipstream Cycling Club around 6.30 am when a car crashed into the group. Banks, an employee at bpTT, died at the scene and Brown died of his injuries at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope. Two others were injured in the accident.