A Coroners Court jury has heard that moments before a Bodden Town man crashed into a concrete monument in the middle of a roundabout, the car he was driving became airborne twice.
The victim, Courtney Oneil Bennett, was travelling at speeds of up to 75 miles per hour around 12:40am on 6 Jan. 2022 when he lost control of his Honda Inspire while entering a roundabout along the Esterley Tibbetts Highway, in the vicinity of Cost-U-Less.
“The car lost control and collided with the roadside curb, causing it to go airborne,” RCIPS Sergeant Lenford Butler told the court. “The car touched down … a few feet away causing a gouge mark before becoming airborne again. The car then landed a few feet away from the roundabout and jumping the curb, passing through the vegetation… [crashed] into the concrete monument.”
The collision lasted three seconds and was captured on CCTV.
Bennett, 43, was not wearing his seatbelt and had a blood alcohol content of .132 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood – more than 30% above the then legal limit, which was 0.100 at the time, the court heard. The drink-drive limit has since been reduced to 0.07%.
A female passenger in the front seat, who was wearing a seatbelt, survived the collision.
“There were no mechanical defects, or malfunctions with the car,” said crash scene reconstruction Colin Redden. “At the time of the crash, the car was travelling at 105 feet per second,” he said, “and there is clear evidence that there was harsh application of the brakes, but at that time the car was unable to manoeuvre the corner at the speed it was travelling.”
Within a matter of minutes paramedics were on the scene, but despite attempts to administer CPR and other life saving interventions, Bennett showed no signs of life, the jury heard.
He was taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
Following a brief deliberation, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of death by misadventure.
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