A Guyanese man was last week sentenced to two years in prison by a Canadian judge for a motor vehicle accident that left a four-year-old boy disabled.
Elliott Khelawan, a 54-year-old Guyanese man who moved to Canada in 1987, was given the sentence on January 5 by Judge Leonard Ricchetti.
But Khelawan, 54, won’t start his sentence until March 18.Instead, Justice Ricchetti granted his request to travel to New York to complete a fire safety director’s test on March 16 so he can remain employed with US Securities Associates in Canada when he’s released from jail. He has been living and working in New York City.
According to the court document, a copy of which was seen by this newspaper, on June 15, 2008 which was Father’s Day, Khelawan knocked down little Yayha Sayed, who had only moved to Canada one week before. In handing down the sentence the judge castigated the Guyanese for leaving the scene of the accident and not rendering any assistance and for not showing any remorse.
The judge said the result of the accident “was catastrophic lifelong injuries to the small four-year-old boy. To make matters worse, Mr Khelawan went to great lengths to avoid responsibility for the collision by immediately leaving the scene without offering assistance, went to his residence, attempting to mask his drinking by consuming more alcohol, changing his clothes before returning to the scene and refusing to blow into a breathalyzer.
“Mr Khelawan’s lack of concern for the four-year-old boy left under his vehicle is simply shocking.”
Cricket
Giving a background to the case the judge said on the day of the tragedy Khelawan had gone to play cricket but the game was rained out. He then remained with his cricket friends for the entire day–approximately seven hours–consuming alcohol and then drove home from Scarborough to Mississauga. He turned into what is called the Roche Court–a short dead end street with multiple unit buildings–where he lived for many years. According to the court, Roche Court is known by all, including the Guyanese, as a “place where the children typically play in the roadway”.
When he arrived that day it was still light but the roads were wet.
“After turning on to Roche Court, Mr Khelawan noticed a young child holding onto a woman’s hand. Mr Khelawan was travelling at a minimum of 62 kph. There were cars parked on the roadway. Mr Khelawan did not slow down,” the judge said.
The little child was at the time in the care of his aunt waiting for his father to pick him up and he was taken down to the street by his aunt along with other children to the front of the building and the children started to play. The child suddenly darted out onto the roadway and while Khelawan applied his brakes the wheels locked and skidded, but after approximately 13 metres, the front of his vehicle hit the child and it continued forward with the child on the front for about 22 metres before coming to a stop in the middle of the roadway.
“Yayha’s small body lay on the ground in front of Mr Khelawan’s car. The vehicle skidded for than 35 metres in total! Despite being confronted with this information, Mr Khelawan said he was only going 5-10 kph,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
After the accident Khelawan got out of the vehicle, walked to the front and saw the child’s aunt holding him in her arms. Even though he had a cell phone he did not call for help or 911 but instead walked away towards his apartment building without offering assistance and it was left for someone else to call 911.
The Guyanese man went into his apartment where he drank what is believed to be Smirnoff Ice, changed his clothes and returned downstairs a short while later. When he returned to the scene he did not identify himself to the police on the scene as the driver and did not go near the vehicle but instead stood some distance away next to his wife. He had to be pointed out as the driver and he was arrested.At the station he was asked to take a breathalyzer test and he “pretended or feigned to blow into the machine. He was charged with refusing to blow. When told about the child’s condition, there was little reaction from Mr Khelawan.”
When he was interviewed by the police he appeared more concerned about whether he would have been able to go to work the next day rather than the child’s condition and did not ask about this until about seven hours after the collision.
“For Yayha and his family, this day changed their lives forever. Yayha was taken to the hospital. He was in a coma for about a month. He remained in the hospital for a further three months.
The neurologist testified that Yayha’s brain has been seriously, permanently and negatively affected by the collision.
There are ‘holes’ in his brain. Yayha’s development will not be like other children’s development. Yayha will need some medical care for the rest of his life,” the judge said.
According to the judge, Khelawan was in a motor vehicle collision when he was seven years old and his father was later killed in an accident when he was 11 years old in Guyana.
He left Canada in 2007 for New York where he resides and is employed as a Fire Safety Inspector. He has no relevant criminal record and supports his family.
“Mr Khelawan has demonstrated no remorse–not on the night the collision happened, not at the trial and not during the interview with the parole officer for his pre-sentence report. In fact during the interview process with the parole office, Mr Khelawan wanted to finish the ‘process as quickly as possible so he could return to New York and resume working’,” the judge stated.
Khelawan’s lawyers had argued while the consequences of the collision are horrific there was “uncontroverted evidence that Yayha unexpectedly ran across Roche Court in front of Mr Khelawan’s vehicle.
“That does not excuse Mr Khelawan’s dangerous driving which caused the collision. It does mean that the entire weight of the consequences of the collision should not be borne by him,” his lawyer had submitted to the court.
The man had testified that his immediate actions after the accident was caused by post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS) due to his childhood collision and his father’s death in a motor collision.
But the judge found a problem with the man’s testimony as he pointed out that there was no diagnosis that the man suffered from PTSS and he has never received any medical attention for the syndrome.
This position was also rejected by the jury.
In the end the judge sentenced him to 18 months for dangerous driving, two months for impaired driving and another two months for refusing to blow–both of which would run concurrently with the 18 months.
A sentence of another six months–to run consecutively–was handed down for failing to remain on the scene. His driver’s licence was also suspended for the next five years.
