By Tahna Weston
There has been yet another adjournment in the case involving the death of a medical student in an incident which left another student with life-changing injuries.
Karim Edwards was allegedly driving his vehicle in a reckless manner when 21-year-old Kenneth Mathew and Priyanjana Das, then 19, were struck by him while crossing Friars Hill Road on October 23 2022.
It has been almost two years since the tragic incident and committal proceedings have not got off the ground.
When Edwards appeared in court yesterday, his attorney Wendel Alexander was not present but a prosecutor from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) informed the court that the matter could not proceed because the investigator was on vacation. He also said that the DPP office was not in possession of relevant exhibits, which are likely still in the officer’s possession.
The court was also told that Alexander had requested an adjournment in the matter.
Magistrate Dexter Wason, who appeared very perturbed by the request for a further delay, said that he did not appreciate requests being made to have a matter adjourned for two or three months after being in the system for roughly two years. This response followed a request by the prosecution for an adjournment date in October.
The court had been expected to deal with submissions by Alexander to have the case dismissed.
Wason said that it appeared there was a quest to drag out the case. He said that the submissions and the committal proceedings were not inextricably intertwined and thus the submissions can be dealt with on September 26 and the committal done at a different time.
The magistrate told the prosecutor that the investigator did not need to be present for the submissions which could be done in his absence.
Edwards, who is accused of knocking down the two American University of Antigua (AUA) students, has experienced frequent delays hampering his case’s progression.
Mathew succumbed to his injuries in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital just over a week after the incident. Das survived but with significant injuries, including the loss of her right arm, fractures to her left arm, and injuries to her pelvis.
Edwards, an accountant in his late 40s, was initially charged with dangerous driving, but the charge was upgraded to causing death by dangerous driving after Mathew died.
The next hearing has been set for September 26.
