ZR driver with loads of excuses

ACCORDING TO his  pre-sentencing report, Cyril O’Bryan Archer had an excuse for almost all of his 197 convictions.For the offences of carrying excess passengers in his minibus, he claimed they happened in the 1980s when there was  a bustling industrial estate in Newton, Christ Church; for picking up  and setting down passengers at places  other than bus stops,  he said those happened because he “always  tried to assist passengers with large packages”,  and he admitted he was charged for driving without a licence but  said it was because he “unwittingly allowed  it to expire”.All of this was contained in the report read to the No. 2 Supreme Court on Thursday.Archer, a 47-year-old route taxi driver, of Kendal Hill, Christ Church, had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on February 8, 1999. He was originally arraigned with causing Errol Thornhill’s death  by driving route taxi  ZR 42 on Martindale’s Road, St Michael, at a speed and in a manner dangerous to the public.The pre-sentencing report, which was read by Acting Senior Probation Officer Janice Perryman, revealed that Archer started working on his father Enfield Forde’s minibus when he  was a student at secondary school.When he got his driver’s licence at 18,  his father allowed him  to drive one of his public service vehicles and  swore he was not  a reckless driver.The probation officer read that Archer had indicated the offence bothered him not only because of the stigma  and the loss of life, but because it had portrayed him negatively and made  him the subject of radio talk shows.Archer, who addressed the court, said: “I’m glad the case over with and the pain me and Mr Thornhill family went through.“No one leaves home  to get in an accident  but it was an accident  and I’m asking that  you be lenient,”  he added.The traffic offender further told the court he fled the scene about ten minutes after the accident but said it was because “20 or 30 people rush at me”. He will be sentenced  on Tuesday.