Kenyatta Benjamin of Hatton has been sentenced to one year and four months in prison after pleading guilty to dangerous driving in connection with the collision that ultimately claimed the life of national cyclist Andre Simon.

Benjamin was also disqualified from driving for four years.

The sentence was handed down in the High Court on Monday, more than four years after the Mother’s Day collision that forever changed the lives of Simon, his family, his fellow cyclists and a wider community that followed his long fight for survival.

The incident occurred in May 2022 along Sir George Walter Highway as Simon trained with fellow cyclists Sean Weathered, Ghere Coates and Tiziano Rosignoli.

Benjamin struck the group while they were cycling along the roadway.

All four men were hospitalised. Weathered, Coates and Rosignoli were later discharged, but Simon suffered catastrophic injuries, including severe head trauma and internal bleeding.

What followed was not simply an accident report or a court case.

It became a year-long struggle for life.

Simon spent an extended period in the Intensive Care Unit at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre before being transported on July 2, 2022, to TIRR Memorial Hermann in Texas, where he continued receiving specialised treatment while in a wakefulness coma.

For his family, the months that followed were filled with hope, prayer, uncertainty and the painful reality of watching a loved one fight injuries that had altered his life in an instant.

Andre died in the United States approximately 13 months after the collision.

He was just 35 years old.

But Andre Simon was far more than the victim named in a dangerous-driving case.

He was a national cyclist who represented Antigua and Barbuda, carrying the nation’s colours through a sport that demanded discipline, endurance and sacrifice.

He was a father, leaving behind a child who must now grow up carrying his memory rather than sharing the milestones that should have come with him.

He was also a valedictorian, a reflection of an intellect, ambition and determination that extended far beyond cycling.

To those who knew him, Andre was not a statistic, a court file or a name appearing beneath a headline.

He was a son.
A brother.
A father.
A friend.
An athlete.
A scholar.

And he was a man whose future was still unfolding.

Benjamin was not charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Under Antigua and Barbuda law, that offence could not be applied because Simon died more than one year and one day after the collision.

Instead, Benjamin pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, an offence for which the maximum sentence is two years imprisonment.

The court imposed a sentence of 16 months.

For Andre’s family and for many who followed his story, however, no sentence can be measured only in months.

The consequences of that Mother’s Day morning will last far longer.

There are birthdays Andre will never celebrate, races he will never ride, conversations his family will never have with him again and moments in his child’s life where his absence will be unmistakable.

A court proceeding can eventually come to an end.

Grief does not.

Andre Simon’s story should therefore not end with the length of a prison sentence.

His story is also the story of a gifted Antiguan and Barbudan who achieved academically, represented his country in sport, became a father and was deeply loved by the people who knew him.

Sixteen months may be the sentence handed down by the court.

Andre Simon’s life was worth infinitely more.

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