Ponde v The Chief of Police

• Jurisdiction: Antigua and Barbuda
• Court: Court of Appeal (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Judge: St. Bernard, J.A.
• Judgment Date: 05 May 1970
• Neutral Citation: AG 1970 CA 5
• Docket Number: Criminal Appeals Nos. 1 and 2 of 1970
• Date: 05 May 1970

Court of Appeal

Lewis, C.J.; Lewis, J.A.; St. Bernard, J.A. (Acting)

Criminal Appeals Nos. 1 and 2 of 1970

Ponde

and

The Chief of Police

Appearances:

J.S. Weekes for appellant

B. Dias (Attorney General) for respondent

Road traffic - Dangerous Driving — Whether evidence supported the conviction for dangerous driving.

Facts: Evidence revealed that the appellant was identified by two police officers as the driver of the car involved in the accident.

Held: The judge's finding was one of fact and would not be disturbed. Appeal dismissed.

1 St. Bernard, J.A. (Ag.): The appellant was charged with two offences of dangerous driving under section 53(1) of the Vehicles and Road Traffic Ordinance Chapter 249 of the Revised Laws of Montserrat.

2 The charges were that on the 18th December, 1969, at Groves in the Parish of Saint Anthony in the Colony of Montserrat the appellant, being the driver of a certain motor vehicle, did drive the said vehicle numbered M 636 on the Groves Public Road at a speed and in a manner which was dangerous to the public having regard to all the circumstances prevailing on the road at the time.

3 He was convicted on both of these charges on the 20th February, 1970, and on one charge was fined $80.00 and on the other he was disqualified from holding a licence for 6 months. He has appealed from both these convictions and the two appeals for convenience are heard together. His grounds of appeal, which are the same in both cases, are:–

• (a) that the decision is unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the evidence; and

• (b) that the judgment or sentence passed was based on a wrong principle or was such that the magistrate viewing the circumstances reasonably could not properly have so...