Teen in deadly De Willem accident granted $1.5M bail

After spending almost two weeks on remand for the horrific De Willem, West Coast Demerara accident which claimed the lives of three men, Matthew Ambedkar was on Thursday released on $1.5 million bail.

On March 11, Ambedkar, 19, of Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo was remanded to prison by Magistrate Zamila Ally-Seepaul at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court.

He was arraigned on three counts of causing death by dangerous driving; the charges were indictable and so, he could not enter a plea.

But on Thursday, Ambedkar made his second court appearance, and the Administration of Justice Act (AJA) was applied to the charges and he pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The three charges alleged that on March 7, 2022, he drove motorcar PVV 1051 in a dangerous manner along the De Willem Public Road, which resulted in the deaths of Kiran Ramprashad, Carlito Gobin and Ayube Mohammed.

Magistrate Ally-Seepaul released Ambedkar on $500,000 bail on each count and ordered him to lodge his passport with the court.  The case was adjourned to April 26, 2022. He was represented by attorneys-at-law Dexter Todd and Dexter Smartt.

The News Room had reported that teenager was reportedly racing along the De Willem Public Road when he ploughed into three persons at the Sharmila Harrykissoon Sports Bar.

Gobinlall, 23, a Venezuelan national and an employee of the bar; Mohammed, 44, a fisherman known as ‘Quarter’ of Meten-Meer-Zorg, WCD and another fisherman, Rampersaud, 41, called ‘Rocky’ of Zeeburg, were all killed on the spot. The accident occurred just before 22:00hrs.

Ambedkar was also injured in the horrific accident along with two other patrons of the bar.

Police Headquarters reported that no alcohol was detected in the teen’s breath after a breathalyser test was conducted.