Dwayne Coddington is happy he wasn't sent to prison for his role in an October 2000 accident which ended in the death of his friend, 18 year old tennis star Craig Wayne Bean.

But Coddington who had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, is worried about not being allowed to have a drink alcohol for another year - just one of the strict probation conditions handed down yesterday by Assistant Justice Charles-Etta Simmons. She imposed a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., ordered him not to consume any intoxicating substances and to move out of his parents' home and into his own apartment in three months.

"I believe you deserve a sentence of imprisonment," she said. But recent amendments to the Criminal Code - under the Alternatives to Incarceration initiative - meant that she had to consider probation first. The probation order also requires Coddington to re-enrol in classes and complete his GED, as well as take part in a drivers' education course within the one year period. He is also not allowed to apply for a licence until after the end of the probation and will not be allowed to ride as a passenger on a motor cycle. He was also fined $500 to be paid within six months and warned that any breach of his probation could land him in prison.

Coddington, a 22-year-old Devonshire resident, was sentenced together with Elroy Quincy Bean, 24, of Beacon Hill, Sandys and 21-year-old Jamel Thompson, also of Southampton. Thompson and Bean, who had pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention, were both fined $500 and disqualified from driving motor cycles and auxiliary cycles for one year.

"No matter what sentence the court passes, it cannot retrieve the loss of Craig Bean's life," Justice Simmons said. "Anyone one of you could have lost your lives."

The pair will however be allowed to drive cars and heavy vehicles - an "irony" said Justice Simmons, given that more harm can be caused by driving those vehicles dangerously. During the close to two hour hearing yesterday the court heard they had been speeding on cycles along Middle Road after midnight on October 22, 2000. Unable to properly negotiate a bend, Coddington collided with a car, veered to the left and struck Craig Bean's cycle.

Coddington's accident caused the two other cycles to crash as well. All four received serious injuries but Craig Bean died from his injuries a day later at the King Edward Memorial Hospital. The driver of the car received minor injuries.

"There is no doubt that the actions of the defendants were very irresponsible, to put it mildly," said prosecutor Anthony Blackman. He asked Assistant Justice Simmons to "take into account the fact that pack racing is a very dangerous activity - and is of great concern to not only the Police Service but, indeed, to all Bermudians."

But Mr. Blackman declined to suggest a sentence for the three, explaining that few, if any, precedents existed for the circumstances of the case.

"It is not very often that when a person is killed as a result of a road accident, the person who died is one who contributed," to the accident, he said.

Patrick Doherty and Craig Attridge, lawyers for Thompson and Bean respectively, both said that their clients had not been "pack racing", had not socialised with Coddington before the accident and were simply heading in the same direction as the others on their way home. "He (Thompson) doesn't agree he was pack racing," said Mr. Doherty. "He agrees he was travelling with the group - that he was travelling fast."

Mr. Bean and Mr. Thompson had pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention. Mr. Doherty said Thompson had veered toward the bushes to avoid the pile up and did not directly contribute to the accident which occurred on Middle Road Southampton. Thompson was close to the dead man's brother and "understands the tragedy that occurred and does not in any way take this matter lightly".

He asked the court to allow his client, a junior mechanic with Bermuda Air Conditioning, to restrict vehicle driving restrictions to motor cycles only because he needed his truck driving license for work.

Mr. Attridge agreed that the accident had had a profound effect on everyone involved and noted that Bean acted to avoid a pileup and did not actually observe the accident, and asked that he be allowed to drive a car for employment purposes.

All three were reported by Police to have been co-operative when the accident was investigated. Neither Bean nor Thompson had any previous convictions.

But Coddington had previous convictions for drug possession, armed robbery, assault with intent to rob and removal. He admitted he had never had a driving licence and even continued to ride a cycle after the accident. The court had also heard that he had consumed four alcoholic beverages and cannabis on the night of the accident. He sustained severe injuries during the accident, had been in a coma for 45 days and does not remember the accident.

"It's good. I thought I was going to get locked up," he said when asked for his reaction. "Curfew ain't going to be the problem. I can't drink, can't smoke."

And he questioned how he was going to get to work given the restrictions, but he added: "That was my brethren, my boy... he died."

Craig Bean's mother, Juanita Bean, who also attended the hearing along with members of Coddington's family, said she was relatively pleased with the outcome of the hearing given that the family can now begin to have closure over the death of their loved one, saying: "It's two years later. It's time to heal."

But she said local courts should give the victim's family the right to speak at such proceedings and that since her son's death she had been providing support to other families who find themselves in such situations. adding: "It seems like so many young people have passed in such a short time."