Two years for negligent driving causing bodily harm

A 48-YEAR-OLD man was yesterday jailed two years with light labour after the Lae District Court found him guilty of negligent driving under the influence of alcohol and causing bodily harm to a passenger who was knocked into a coma for three weeks.
Magistrate Pious Tapil jailed John Binan, from Nondogul village in Jiwaka, who had 28 years driving experience.
Binan had previously pleaded not guilty in his first mention, but later during his other court appearances pleaded guilty.
He informed the court that his change in pleas were because he was threatened.
He told the court that the police statements were not the same story he gave to police when he surrendered. Tapil then asked Binan why he was driving when, according to police, he was not the authorised driver.
Binan said he was the standby driver with 28 years of driving experience and blamed a pothole for the accident.
Tapil said reckless driving had caused many deaths and Binan’s failure to drive responsibly had resulted in the vehicle running off the main road and causing injuries to the victim and other passengers.
Tapil said the court had a responsibility to penalise offenders of such incidents by imposing a deterrent sentence, since such offences were becoming too prevalent. The court refunded his K1,000 bail and sent him to jail.