On the night of January 29, 2007, Marcial Mes knocked down two children who were on their way to church in Forest Home Village, just outside of Punta Gorda Town. At the time he was a two term area representative and a Minister of State in the Ministry of National Development. It was a scandal because those in the area said Mes was driving drunk. But that claim was never established because he refused to give a urine sample for testing.
All that is relevant again because Mes - no longer an elected official - was caught allegedly driving drunk this weekend – and this time – no one was seriously hurt – but the former Minister is in a world of trouble. Superintendent Noel Leal - the Officer Commanding Punta Gorda confirmed to 7NEWS that Mes has been charged for various traffic offences.
It all started on Saturday afternoon, when his son Luis Mes had a blow out and veered off the highway into Martin Choc’s Farm in San Marcos Village, destroying some of his crops. Choc called the police because he wanted compensation. They went for Luis Mes at his father’s home and took him in the police mobile, along with his mother.
They were heading back to Choc’s farm, when police report that Marcial Mes came barrelling down a narrow road – charging directly at the police pickup. The police pulled over, but Mes still hit the rear end, causing mild injury to constable Chub and Mes’s own wife who was in the police mobile. Both were taken to the PG Hospital where they were treated and released. With that police arrested Mes and his son and took them to the Police Station. They were held in the detention cell for over 24 hours. That’s when Martin Choc came to say he didn’t want to press charges against Luis Mes because he had been paid for the damage.
But it didn’t end that easily for Marcial Mes. Police suspected he was drunk and he did agree to give a urine sample this time. He was charged for driving with an alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit, damage to the police vehicle – which will cost $3,000 to repair, driving without due care and attention, and negligent harm upon Constable Chub. He will appear in court on Wednesday.
Mes was driving his private vehicle, a Mazda pickup truck, which was also extensively damaged. It’s worth noting that in the 2007 accident, he was charged for driving a vehicle with an expired license, failure to provide a specimen, two counts of grievous harm and one count of driving without due care and attention. With adept representation from Dickie Bradley, the court found that he had no case to answer for any of the charges.
