PHILIPSBURG—Tevin Honore (26) was convicted on Wednesday for causing the sudden death of school teacher Bas Haan who was cycling on Airport Boulevard on September 6, 2016.
The Court of First Instance sentenced Honore to one year, of which six months conditional, and two years’ probation. His driver’s licence was also suspended for two years and he will have to pay NAf. 12,079 damages to De Haan’s family.
The Prosecutor’s Office charged Honore with speeding and reckless driving and is holding him responsible for the death of the 27-year-old teacher. The defendant was also charged with nearly hitting a second cyclist who was barely able to jump out of the way.
De Haan, who hailed from Meedhuizen in the Netherlands, worked as a teacher in St. Eustatius for some time. In mid-2016 he moved to St. Maarten and began teaching at Milton Peters College just one month before the fatal accident. Memorials for the late teacher were held in St. Eustatius and in St. Maarten.
Honore told the court during the trial that he had not been speeding or driving recklessly. He explained that while driving from the airport, where he had been working, toward the causeway bridge, he had tried to overtake a car when he noticed a cyclist riding in the lane for oncoming traffic. In trying to avoid a collision he veered his car off the road and crashed into a GEBE structure while hitting the cyclist with the right side of his vehicle.
Honore was shaking while the Judge was reading his verdict and will appeal the case, according to his lawyer Sjamira Roseburg.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/66285-one-year-sentence-for-driver-in-cyclist-crash
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