Man extradited from UK over road death charges

(CNS): Levar Wood (27), who was arrested on suspicion of killing his best friend, Giovani Berry (27), almost two years ago has been extradited from the UK and was due to appear in court Thursday facing charges of causing death by dangerous driving. Wood fled the jurisdiction after he was a bailed and allowed to travel for medical reasons in January 2020. But police pursued Wood and tracked him down in the UK. Communication between the RCIPS and the British authorities paved the way for the extradition process and to bring Wood home. He arrived here Wednesday evening, when he was charged and has since been held in custody pending his court appearance.

“As part of our policing priorities to relentlessly tackle the perpetrators of crime, we have done all we could to ensure that the offender in this case is brought to justice,” said Detective Superintendent Peter Lansdown, “On behalf of the RCIPS, I would like to thank the UK NCA Extradition Unit for their assistance in locating and returning this man.”

Wood is accused of killing Berry after the two men were involved in a police chase in Bodden Town.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, 1 September, police on patrol spotted a dark coloured vehicle speeding past them in a reckless manner. The officers turned on their lights and followed the car, which turned into Anton Bodden Drive, overtaking three other vehicles ahead of it.

As the car approached Belford Estates, the driver lost control and collided into the last of the vehicles the driver had tried to overtake. When officers pulled up, the driver managed to regain control and despite instructions to stop, he sped off along Anton Bodden Drive, towards Condor Road.

The police said they had briefly followed the car to get its licence plate number, but soon lost sight of it. But the officers continued along Anton Bodden Road and when they got to the junction of Shamrock Road and Condor Road, the officers were stopped by a member of the public who told them that they had seen a car speeding and heading in the direction of George Town.

The officers continued along Shamrock Road trying to find the car, checking side roads along the way. When they arrived at Northward Road, another member of the public alerted the officers to a collision nearby on Doubloon Drive.

Arriving on the scene, the officers found the same car, which had collided with a wall, with two men inside. The passenger, who was later identified as Berry, appeared to have been severely injured and an ambulance was called to take both men to hospital, where Berry died later that morning. Wood was arrested shortly afterwards on suspicion of causing his friend’s death.