[Updated] Driver avoids jail time in fatal 2023 jogging incident

Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to state that Cosmo Hosten will be required to pay $1,000 annually to the Asher McIntyre Foundation for Road Safety, and not $1,800 monthly to McIntyre’s son. We apologise to the McIntyre family and our readers.

by Nisha Paul 

• Incident occurred on 6 March 2023 as Asher McIntyre was jogging along Maurice Bishop Highway
• Cosmo Hosten is required to pay EC$1,000 annually, for 18 years, to the Asher McIntyre Foundation for Road Safety, and actively support the Foundation
• Also ordered to make meaningful contributions to victim’s son every Father’s Day until the child turns 18

Two years after the tragic death of 32-year-old Asher McIntyre, the driver responsible has avoided prison time, prompting mixed reactions and quiet disappointment from the victim’s grieving family.

Cosmo Hosten, 40, appeared before Senior High Court Judge Justice Paula Gilford at the No. 1 High Court in St George’s on Thursday, 31 July, where he was sentenced to a non-custodial term of 2 years, 11 months, and 5 days, which has been suspended for 3 years in connection with McIntyre’s death.

Hosten, who was also initially charged with causing Death by Dangerous Driving, pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of Manslaughter by Negligence as part of an agreement between the prosecution and defence. He was represented by Attorney Jerry Edwin. As part of the sentencing terms, he is required to pay EC$1,000 annually, for 18 years, to the Asher McIntyre Foundation for Road Safety, which was established following the fatal incident, and actively support the Foundation on road safety information. Hosten is also ordered to meaningful contributions to the victim’s 2-year-old son, every Father’s Day, until the child turns 18.

Although the sentencing brings legal closure to the case, it does little to ease the emotional burden carried by McIntyre’s loved ones.

McIntyre’s father, retired Superintendent of Police Sylvan McIntyre, shared the family’s reaction shortly after court proceedings concluded, stating that while he “respects the decision of the court 100%” the family would have preferred for a custodial sentence to be handed down to the man convicted of his son’s untimely death. “To be honest, one of the things that would have given us a greater sense of justice delivered was to have had a custodial sentence… That in itself would have given us a sense of payback. Obviously, the judge saw it differently and made the decision based on all of the facts and mitigating circumstances that were presented before her. We are open to our own feelings, and we just think that despite supporting and accepting the conditions that the judge delivered, we would have preferred if there was a custodial sentencing where the perpetrator was made to spend some time behind bars.”

The incident occurred in the early hours of 6 March 2023, as McIntyre was jogging along the Maurice Bishop Highway. The tragedy sparked an outpouring of public grief and renewed calls for improved road safety measures nationwide. The subsequent creation of the Asher McIntyre Foundation for Road Safety has been part of the family’s effort to turn their pain into purpose.

Hosten, the son of a retired police officer, was granted bail in the sum of EC$40,000 with 2 sureties on the occasion of his first appearance before a St George’s Magistrate several days after the incident. He declined to comment to reporters as he exited the High Court after the lenient sentence was passed by Justice Gilford. Despite the sentence, many see the case as a sobering reminder of the responsibility every motorist bears and the need to ensure Grenada’s roads are safe for all users.