Daniel Tucker, 37, was sentenced to 4.5 years imprisonment for his role in the death of Filipino guest worker, Lovella Cruz in 2023
A man who admitted to killing a guest worker while driving under the influence of alcohol was jailed for four and a half years today.
The Royal Gazette reports that 37-year-old Daniel Tucker was also disqualified for driving for a period of 8 years.
He was responsible for the death, in 2023, of 48-year-old Lovella Cruz, a guest worker from the Philippines.
During a previous hearing in December, the court had heard that on November 9th 2023, Ms. Cruz was riding her motorcycle east along Somerset Road just before 11pm and while approaching Cricket Lane, Tucker, traveling in the opposite lane in a car, negotiated a turn. That’s when the crash happened.
After the fatal collision, police said Tucker admitted drinking three Planter’s punch alcoholic beverages. A breathalyzer test showed he was more than twice over the legal limit.
He said he was driving his car when the rider, “came out of nowhere.”
A victim impact statement written by one of the victim’s sons said their mother was the breadwinner of the family.
Bernard Angelo Bell Cruz said in the report, “I cannot find the meaning of life.”
Tucker had previously been convicted of an alcohol-related offense in 2018.
Justice Alan Richards handed down the sentence this morning in the Supreme Court and was quoted by The Royal Gazette as stating: “However bleakly the future may look for Mr Tucker, he is, of course, still here.
“Lovella Cruz lost her life that night through no fault of her own. She too was cherished by her family and her loss has caused them immeasurable pain,” end quote.
Tucker had pled guilty from the outset.
