The man who pulled a dangerous stunt with his Mercedes Benz saloon car at the Airport traffic light intersection has walked away after paying the GH¢1,800 slapped on him by a La Motor Court in Accra.
The accused, Kofi Sasa Buckman set social media agog last week with his reckless driving whilst other vehicles were caught in traffic.
Buckman made an appearance before the court on Monday, November 1, 2021 with a long line of six lawyers led by Dela Blagogee of Blacksword& Co. who managed to secure a fine instead of a custodial sentence for the convict.
He was charged with five counts of careless and inconsiderate driving, racing on street or road contrary to Section 173 of the Road Traffic Regulations, causing danger to other road users, dangerous driving and neglect of road traffic signal to wit red light contrary to section 174 of the Road Traffic Regulations.
Buckman who appeared very remorseful, pleaded guilty to all the charges leveled against him by the prosecution led by Chief Inspector P.O. Adjei.
The court presided over by Joojo Hagan subsequently convicted him on his own plea and Mr. Blagogee in a powerful advocacy pleaded earnestly with the court for mitigation.
Counsel referred to the fact that the accused is hitherto unknown to the law, that the accused voluntarily surrendered himself to the police once the video was published on social media.
He said the accused gave maximum cooperation to the police throughout the investigation, adding that “this singular act of indiscretion is totally inconsistent with his character.”
Mr. Blagogee pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy and give Buckman an opportunity to reform as he had learned a bitter lesson from the whole episode including the media frenzy that the viral video had garnered.
The lawyer then pleaded with the court not to impose a custodial sentence on the accused convict.
The presiding Magistrate after hearing the defense lawyer, sentenced the accused to pay respective fines of 150, 10,15,10 and 25 Penalty Units to run concurrently meaning he was to pay a fine of GH¢1,800 or in default serve respective custodial sentences on the five counts.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak