Daniel Melbourne, the driver who is accused of causing the death of Reonol Williams and then dumping his body was granted $1.8 million bail by Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore after spending the last month on remand.
On June 10, Melbourne, 53, first appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court and was slapped with six charges.
He was charged with causing the death of Williams by dangerous driving, failure to report an accident, failure to render assistance after an accident, failure to produce the vehicle for examination, giving false information to the police and attempting to obstruct the course of justice.
He pleaded not guilty to all six charges and was remanded to prison.
During his second court appearance last Friday, Melbourne’s attorney, Patrice Henry made an application for bail. Melbourne was released on a total of $1.8M bail and had his matter adjourned until October 28
Melbourne is the owner and driver of the car (PAB 2552) that allegedly struck down 50-year-old Williams on the Enmore Public Road, East Coast Demerara, on May 23 and dumped his body in a trench at Coldingen, ECD, after telling witnesses that he was taking him to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
As Williams’ family desperately searched for him for 16 days, Melbourne maintained his innocence and told the police that he was working in the interior at the time of the accident and that it was a distant cousin who was driving the car.
In the initial stages of the investigation, Melbourne was released on station bail; it was only after the family spoke out and the story gained media attention that the case was handed over to the Major Crimes Department and Melbourne was re-arrested on June 7.
Within hours of his arrest, he allegedly led detectives to where the body was dumped.
The autopsy revealed that Williams died as a result of multiple injuries due to a motor vehicle accident.
