~ In Sylvia Lynch fatal traffic accident ~
PHILIPSBURG--The truck driver who was involved in the May 6, 2011, accident on Sucker Garden Road that cost young schoolgirl Silvia Lynch's life, was given a suspended sentence and 240 hours of community service on his 63rd birthday, for involuntary manslaughter.
The Prosecutor's Office was of the opinion that Manuel de Jesus Marlin Benitez had been driving recklessly and had committed four traffic violations during the incident in which the 12-year-old Genevieve de Weever School pupil lost her life.
For these crimes, Prosecutor Gonda van der Wulp had requested during the February 22 court hearing that the Court of First Instance impose a 12–month sentence, six months of which were to be suspended, and to order two years' probation and a two-year driving ban.
Comparing this case with similar cases, Judge Monique Keppels meted out a milder punishment.
The Court held Marlin Benitez responsible for causing "the tragic incident in which Sylvia Lynch lost her life." He was sentenced to nine months suspended and a suspended two-year revocation of his driver's licence, both on two years' probation.
Marlin Benitez also will have to perform 240 hours of community service under guidance of the Probation Officer.
In sentencing, Judge Keppels took into account that Marlin Benitez had been an experienced driver and never had been convicted before, nor had he been issued fines for traffic violations.
The judge also took into consideration that the defendant's income is dependent on his driver's licence.
In the fatal accident, the young girl was run over by Marlin Benitez's dump truck after she stepped out of a school bus near the top of Naked Boy Hill on Sucker Garden Road.
The judge did not address the issue raised by attorney-at-law Geert Hatzmann, who had stated that the school bus driver, not his client, had been violating the Traffic Ordinance.
According to Hatzmann, the school bus driver had committed an "obvious traffic violation" in parking his bus across the road, as is customary in St. Maarten to try to protect schoolchildren stepping in and out of a school bus.
Local government Financial Services Authority (FSA) David Beckham Sweden Simon Cowell Lake District
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