Coroner's jury to visit crash site today
The seven-strong jury will examine the bend on Harrington Sound Road in Smith's Parish where Peggy Lynn Binns suffered fatal injuries.
The move came after Coroner Arthur Hodgson asked the jury if it would find a visit to the site helpful in their understanding of events.
It was decided that they would meet this morning, but they were reminded that they would be viewing the scene in the daylight. The accident took place at night.
Insp. Roger Kendall told the jury yesterday that the road traffic accident which killed Miss Binns was actually two consecutive accidents.
He said he believed the first accident took place when a motorcycle ridden by Calvert Smith was travelling on the wrong side of the road at high speed on a blind corner when it collided with an on-coming car.
The severe impact of this crash disabled the car's steering causing it to crash into a wall, Insp. Kendall said.
The first accident also caused the motorcycle to throw the rider as it flipped in the air.
The bike then landed on Miss Binns, a 35-year-old waitress, and her motorcycle, creating the second accident Insp. Kendall said.
Members of Miss Binns family cried when Insp. Kendall said the circumstances of the second accident had left Miss Binns "no escape route''.
Insp. Kendall claimed that one of the Miss Binns's facial wounds was compatible with his theory of the accident as it was the same shape and size as the serrated metal foot rest of Smith's bike.
He said that he believed that the motorcycle had come "across the path of Miss Binns at head level'' which would also attribute her severe head injuries that caused her death.
He also said that evidence revealed that Miss Binns was in the correct lane travelling at less than the speed limit.
During questioning by the Binns' family lawyer Richard Horseman, Insp. Kendall said that driving on the wrong side of the road on a blind corner was "inherently dangerous''.
Mr. Smith told the court that he did not remember anything about the accident nor the details of events leading to the incident.
He added that he could not remember whether he had consumed drugs or alcohol before driving.
He did, however, say that he had known Miss Binns since 1991 and that they had been "very close'' friends.
driving in front of Mr. Smith and Miss Binns also gave evidence.
He told the court that his truck "vibrated'' when the Mr. Smith's bike hit the car, but claimed that he did not stop driving as he "did not want to get involved''.
He also denied claims by another witness, Ruby Ann Gibbs, who was driving a car involved in the accident, that he too, was driving fast and recklessly.
Mr. Swan said that he also knew Miss Binns and Mr. Smith and had seen them both at John Smith's Bay earlier that evening, but he was not driving with them and was unaware of who they were at the time of the accident.
Miss Binns' sister Beverly Pitcher told the court that Miss Binns had been the youngest of four children and had "not had an easy life''.
Mrs. Pitcher said that their mother had died when Miss Binns was only ten-years-old and that as a teenager she had gotten involved in drugs.
She also said that Miss Binns had two children, aged 20 and four, and that she begun to sort out her life by going to rehab and getting involved in a church.
