Tracey Pitt's jail term quashed

A civil servant has had her conviction for reckless driving quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Tracey Pitt was jailed for three months last September after an accident that left twin brothers, Rudy and Randy Smith, with serious and life-threatening injuries.

But appeal judges have now overturned her conviction and sentence for two charges of reckless driving. They also reduced Ms Pitt’s sentence for failing to comply with a demand for a breath test.

The Smith brothers were walking home after a night out when they were hit by Ms Pitt’s car on January 29, 2012, on Woodlands Road in Hamilton.

Randy Smith was in a coma for nine weeks and remained in hospital for an additional 64 days.

His brother, Rudy, suffered serious leg injuries and was treated in hospital.

On September 10, 2013, Ms Pitt was convicted of two charges of reckless driving and failing to provide a breath test by a jury and remanded in custody.

But she was cleared of causing grievous bodily harm to both men by driving whilst impaired as well as driving while under the influence.

On September 20 Ms Pitt was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment on each convicted charge to run concurrently and received an 18-month driving ban and 10 demerit points.

But the 51-year-old assistant auditor general was released on bail at the end of the sentencing hearing while she pursued an appeal.

Now appeal judges have quashed Ms Pitt’s convictions and sentences for reckless driving.

They affirmed the conviction for failing to provide a breath sample but vacated the three-month prison sentence she initially received for the offence and varied it to the 10 days she spent in custody awaiting sentence.

And the Court of Appeal reduced the driving ban she was given for failing to provide a breath sample to 12 months.

The Appeal Judges are expected to give written reasons for their rulings at a later date.

Yesterday the twin brother’s mother, Willamae Smith, told the Bermuda Sun: “On behalf of the family I would like to thank everyone for their prayers.

“My children are alive and I thank God for that.”