A man charged with injuring a senator in a traffic collision was acquitted on Friday in Magistrates’ Court.

Ryan Solien, a 46-year-old chef, had denied charges of driving without due care and causing grievous bodily harm to Progressive Labour Party Senator Diallo Rabain in an incident on January 2.

While the Crown opened its case against Mr Solien, prosecutor Alan Richards told the court after the first two witnesses testified that the Crown would be unable to prove its case as there was no further direct evidence and no CCTV footage of the crash.

Magistrate Archibald Warner subsequently acquitted Mr Solien, stating that the Crown had admitted they could not prove that the defendant had driven without due care or injured Sen Rabain.

“At most, the evidence shows that [Mr Solien] was in the area and showed an interest in the accident,” he said.

The court heard testimony from Sen Rabain, who said he was driving east along Front Street at the junction with Court Street when his bike flew out from beneath him.

“I ended up on the ground with the bike on top of my left leg,” he said.

“It just happened so fast. I was passing the intersection and the next thing I knew I was on the ground.”

He said members of the public pulled his motorcycle off his leg and he was taken to the Urgent Care Centre at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

He said he suffered a broken leg in the crash, along with a cut to his ankle and road rash, while his bike was declared a write-off.

The Crown’s second witness, lawyer Kenlyn Swan, said she had just pulled onto Court Street when she heard what sounded like a crash behind her.

When she looked in the rear-view mirror, she said she saw one motorcycle on the ground. By the sidewalk on the southbound lane of Court Street she noticed a man on a motorcycle facing north.

“They were on the wrong side of the road,” she said. “I saw the rider look back to where the bike had been in the road for a couple of seconds. Then he looked forward and rode off. When he rode off he rode behind me and came up on the inside of my vehicle.”

She said the rider stopped in front of her at the junction with Reid Street, allowing her to read the vehicle’s licence plate.

When the lights changed colour, the motorcycle rode away while she turned around and returned to the scene of the crash.

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