A truck driver, Desire Madiviko (56), who caused a fatal road accident which claimed 17 lives along Seke Road, has been jailed for five years.
He was also banned for life from driving Class 2 motor vehicles.
He was also prohibited from driving all other classes of motor vehicles for two (2) years, with cancellation of all existing licences.
He was initially sentenced to seven years with two (2) years suspended for five (5) years on condition of good behaviour, resulting in an effective sentence of five (5) years’ imprisonment.
The driver was convicted of culpable homicide.
The court established that the offender, while driving a South African-registered Nissan UD heavy truck, operated the vehicle at an excessive speed, lost control, mounted a road island, struck pedestrians and veered into oncoming traffic, where he collided with a commuter omnibus.
The truck overturned and landed onto the omnibus.
After a full trial, the court found the offender guilty of gross negligence and sentenced him as follows:
He appeared before Chitungwiza Magistrates’ Court.
The incident occurred along Seke Road, Chitungwiza, on July 22, which resulted in the loss of seventeen (17) lives and the injury to five (5) others.
The collision between a fully-loaded city-bound 30-tonne haulage truck and a commuter omnibus heading to Chitungwiza left blood, twisted metal, shattered glass and heartbreak in its wake.
What began as an ordinary day ended in unimaginable tragedy, plunging the town into mourning and struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss.
The commuter omnibus was reduced to a crumpled shell, its roof and frame flattened under the weight of the haulage vehicle.
The front of the truck was mangled, the windscreen smashed and bumper buckled, but it was the kombi that absorbed the full force of the impact.
So severe was the impact that it took three cranes to lift the trailer to retrieve bodies that were trapped underneath.
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