Conductor shoves female passenger off a moving kombi

A commuter omnibus conductor who pushed a female passenger off a moving vehicle at the height of a heated argument over a ticket has been slapped with a three-year jail term.

Chrispen Mugaviri (27), who was employed by Jackson Transport in St Mary's Chitungwiza, dodged a bullet when he was not charged with attempted murder.

Mugaviri pleaded guilty to assault before Chitungwiza magistrate Mr Lazarus Murendo, who last week slapped him with a four-year jail term, but conditionally suspended a year for five years.

Mr Murendo said cases of kombi crews harassing passengers were rife.

"When you pushed the woman out of the moving bus, her clothes were displaced . . . impairing her dignity," he said.

"You were also to be charged with kidnapping and attempted murder, so giving you a non-custodial sentence will be tantamount to injustice."

Prosecutor Mr Norman Koropi said that on February 27 at around 7pm, Elizabeth Petera (24) of St Mary's, Chitungwiza, boarded an Iveco omnibus in Harare. On getting to Chigovanyika Shopping Centre, Mugaviri asked for a ticket from Petera who was about to disembark.

Petera insisted that she had already handed the ticket to him leading to a heated argument.

During the argument, Mugaviri insulted Petera and punched her in the face.

This led to a scuffle with Mugaviri asking the driver to take off while Petera protested because she wanted to disembark.