By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterONE OF the two men charged in connection with the deaths of three young siblings in a motor vehicle accident on the Prospect main road, St. Thomas, on June 16 last year, was on Friday sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment.
He is Robert Clayton, nicknamed 'Blue', 20, construction worker of Poinciana Crescent, Lyssons, St. Thomas, who had pleaded guilty the previous week in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Miss Justice Ingrid Mangatal, in sentencing Clayton, told him that she was sending him to prison for him to reflect on the seriousness of his transgression. Clayton's driver's licence was suspended for three years.
Clayton, and Simroy Dixon, 20-year-old taxi driver, were each charged with three counts of manslaughter but Clayton pleaded guilty to the lesser offence.
DIXON FOUND NOT GUILTY
Dixon, who was represented by attorney-at-law Lawrence Haynes, went on trial the previous week, but on Friday a seven-member jury found him not guilty of manslaughter. The jury could not arrive at a verdict in respect of the lesser offence of causing death by dangerous driving. Dixon's bail was extended until June 18 for him to return to the Home Circuit Court, when another trial date will be set.
The prosecution, represented by Grace Henry, Crown Counsel, presented evidence at the trial that Anna-Kay Roberts, 11, and her brothers, Carlton Carty, Jnr., 8, and Devonte Carty, 7, were on their way to school when a car driven by Clayton slammed into them, killing them. Evidence was presented that Dixon was driving a car ahead of Clayton's and both cars were travelling bumper-to-bumper at a speed of 130 to 140 kilometres per hour. While the children were crossing the road, Dixon swerved to avoid hitting them but Clayton's car hit them. Two died at the scene and the seven-year-old boy died in hospital.
Attorney-at-law Horace Grey, who represented Clayton, asked the judge to be lenient with him because he had been traumatised by the tragedy.
