Friday, February 13 2015

A 70-YEAR-OLD retired teacher was among two motorists held for drunk driving, while 35 fixed penalty traffic tickets were issued to motorists by police officers during anti-crime roadblock exercises yesterday.

The exercise began at 6 am and ended at 10 am along the Eastern Main Road in Sangre Grande. The fixed penalty tickets issued to motorists were for driving without a seat belt and use of cellphone while driving.

The two men arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol were processed by PCs Joseph and Maloney of the Sangre Grande Traffic Branch and taken before Magistrate Alexander Prince in the Sangre Grande Second Court.

Appearing before Magistrate Prince were 70-year-old retired school teacher Harrichan Sagam of Cumuto and Suruj Ramdeen, 40, an employee of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation.

Harrichan pleaded guilty to the charge and Magistrate Prince fined him $4,000 and was banned from driving for two years. Ramdeen who also pleaded guilty to the charge of driving under the influence of alcohol was ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 and he too was disqualified from driving for the next two years.

Prince allowed Sagam and Ramdeen time to pay their fines. The road traffic exercise was spearheaded by Snr Supt Sacenarine Mahabir and included Ag Sgt Sookdeo, Cpls Hanooman Mohammed, PCs Sankar, Borneo and WPCs Goora and Mckenzie.