The case of a driver arrested in April on suspicion of causing the death of cyclist Per Undheim in April has been adjourned until next month to await a potential charge of causing death by dangerous driving to be filed.
Anthony Devin Berry, 33, appeared before Magistrate Adam Roberts in Traffic Court Monday morning to answer a single charge of failing to give a specimen of blood in relation to the case.
Roberts queried whether Berry would also be facing a charge of death by dangerous driving, to which prosecutor Tetrina Rivers responded that she did not have a file on that.
Roberts told Rivers and Berry’s defence lawyer John Furniss that the failure to give a blood specimen charge would not be dealt with until it was determined if the other charge was going ahead, as those would be related.
“Any magistrate sitting needs that file so that both matters can be considered,” he said.
Rivers pointed out that a charge of death by dangerous driving would have to be dealt with by the Grand Court, but Roberts noted that the judicial process was that it would first have to be presented to the Traffic Court, where the sitting magistrate would then commit it to the higher court.
He told the prosecutor, “You need to talk to [Crown prosecutor Kenneth] Ferguson urgently, so that we are in a position to know on the next occasion, which I will say will be in three weeks, that there are going to be more serious charges, and then they can be sent to the Grand Court and we can get on with things. And if they are not, let’s get on with this one,” Roberts said.
The magistrate bailed Berry to return to Traffic Court on 8 Sept.
He told Berry, “This is very unsatisfactory, but there’s not much I can do. No decision has yet been made, or, certainly, no charges have been laid yet, concerning the other matter [of death by dangerous driving]. So, until that is clarified, there’s really no point in pushing on with this.”
The Cayman Compass reached out to Director of Public Prosecutions Simon Davis on the matter, who replied, “I understand that the RCIPS investigation team are yet to submit a full file to my office. As and when it arrives, I will consider any further charging decisions in the usual way.”
Father-of-two Undheim, 38, was killed while on a morning cycle ride with a friend, after being hit by a vehicle on Bodden Town Road on Easter Monday, 21 April.