By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

AN American man was granted $60,000 cash bail yesterday after being accused of causing a fatal traffic accident in Abaco last Friday that claimed the lives of a teacher and her nephew.

Prosecutors allege that John Griffith Porth, 63, of St Matthew’s, South Carolina, was driving dangerously on SC Bootle Highway when he crashed his Ford Excursion head-on into Monique Williams’s vehicle as she drove her 13-year-old nephew, Terrance Williams, to school at around 8am on November 21.

Ms Williams, 53, a veteran pre-school teacher, and the young Mr Williams died from their injuries.

Porth and his wife, who were in the SUV, were reportedly heading to a bone-fishing trip to Green Turtle Cay and were driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the crash. This was reportedly Porth’s first visit to the country.

The double fatality devastated the Treasure Cay community. SC Bootle High High School, where Terrance was an eighth-grade student, dismissed students early on Friday.

A third passenger in Ms Williams’s vehicle, Calsey Rolle, remains in hospital, according to relatives.

Porth was not required to enter a plea to two counts of vehicular manslaughter when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Kara Turnquest Deveaux. He was informed that the matter would proceed to the Supreme Court through a voluntary bill of indictment.

He was granted $60,000 cash bail. As part of his bail conditions, he must be fitted with a monitoring device and sign in at his local police station.

Porth returns to court for the service of his VBI on March 16, 2026.

Heda Hunt represented the accused, while Inspector K Wilkinson was the prosecutor.