15th March 2023, 16:31
Dangerous driving case withdrawn after insufficient evidence provided
Published by GBC News
A case of dangerous driving has been withdrawn from the jury after evidence identifying the man on trial as the culprit in the matter was not strong enough.
Bruce Martinez’s trial started on Monday. He was facing accusations of hitting a police officer with his car.
Judge Karen Ramagge Prescott noted there was no question that an officer was assaulted by someone driving directly and aggressively at him, and that the issue was simply one of identifying the driver.
The prosecution made their case, but once this closed the judge took the view that the evidence identifying Mr Martinez as the person driving the car was not strong enough.
He was not registered as the owner of the car and at first, the actual owner of the car was accused of being the driver by the RGP.
This called into doubt whether the officer had positively identified Mr Martinez as the person driving the car at the time of the incident.
Consequently, the jury was directed to return a unanimous not guilty verdict.