Today, Fidel Lanza, 47, a resident of Isabella Bank, Belize District, who was the driver of a bus that knocked down and killed preschooler Rayjanee McFadzean, 3, last Friday morning while she and her 5-year-old brother, Tayhun, were on their way to school, appeared in the #1 Magistrate’s Court. He was charged with manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct, negligent grievous harm and driving without due care and attention.
At the start of the day, Friday, between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. in the village of Double Head Cabbage, Belize District, a yellow and blue Bluebird school bus being driven by Lanza ran over Rayjanee McFadzean, 3, and injured her brother, Tayhun McFadzean, 5.
Rayjanee succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital around midday on Friday.
The incident took place in the vicinity of a Double Head Cabbage school and was witnessed by many students of Rancho Dolores, Bermudian Landing and Flowers Bank, who were left traumatized by what they saw.
According to police, Rayjanee and Tayhun, both residents of Double Head Cabbage, left home, unattended, en route to a nearby babysitter. The children were walking on a narrow road, on one side of which was a parked bus, in Site 2 of the Belize Rural Primary School, when the second bus, the school bus, took a turn onto the road. The driver of the bus appeared to be unaware of the children crossing the road until it was too late.
Rayjanee, who was holding her brother’s hand at the time, was crushed under the bus’ wheel; Tayhun was not crushed, but the impact flung him a short distance away from his sister.
Police told us that Rayjanee was immediately rushed to the KHMH along with her brother, but that she was not able to survive the severe injuries to her torso. Tayhun was seen with only minor bruises and scratches, and he was released from the hospital earlier today.
As the offences are indictable and to be tried after preliminary inquiry in the Supreme Court, no plea was taken by Chief Magistrate Ann-Marie Smith when Lanza appeared in court.
Bail was set at $5,000 for manslaughter by negligence, of which $2,000 was to be paid immediately in cash and the remainder signed by himself and another in surety. He was additionally offered bail of $2,000 each (signed) for causing death by careless conduct and negligent grievous harm and $500 in his own recognizance for the charge of driving without due care and attention.
While there was no formal objection to bail, the Chief Magistrate, at the insistence of the court prosecutor, set conditions for Lanza’s bail. He was ordered to immediately surrender all his travel documents to the clerk of court and must report to the Ladyville Police Station every Monday between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
At close of court this evening, Lanza met all conditions for bail and was released. He is due back in court on January 18, 2012.