WESTMORELAND, Jamaica – A Westmoreland taxi operator who pleaded guilty to five counts of causing death by dangerous driving, in connection with a fatal crash in 2023, has been given a non-custodial suspended sentence.

Forty-seven-year-old Delroy Rodney, who is from a Belmont address, has also been prevented from obtaining and holding a driver’s license for three years, and fined $3 million in restitution — $500,000 each for the five deceased and lone survivor.

The sentence was handed down by Supreme Court Judge, Justice Courtney Daye, in the Westmoreland Circuit Court on Thursday evening.

Rodney had admitted to the charges on November 14 of last year.

The five people who lost their lives in the crash are 15-year-old student Lavecia Forrester and her mother, 39-year-old Petrina Wallace, along with Oneil Allen, his mother 65-year-old Angela Samuel and 54-year-old Janet Thompson.

READ: Lawyers for taxi driver charged in fatal Westmoreland crash say they have evidence implicating truck driver

Police reports are that on November 13, 2023, Rodney was driving a Toyota Voxy bus with seven passengers on-board when a vehicle in front reportedly slowed down which resulted in Rodney swerving and colliding with a Shakman motor truck traveling in the opposite direction on the Bluefields main road in the parish.

The passengers in the Voxy which reportedly came to a stop in a tree sustained serious injuries and were later pronounced dead at hospital.

Rodney was arrested and charged by the police. He was later granted a $7 million bail bond by the court.

During the last court date in November, Justice Daye ordered a social inquiry report for Rodney and a victim impact statement from the relatives of the deceased.
— Anthony Lewis.