News / Regional
Zanu-PF deaths driver set free
20 Mar 2014 at 06:39hrs | Views
THE UNLICENSED driver accused of causing the deaths of 10 people when the truck he was driving overturned while heading to a Zanu-PF rally in Nyamandlovu last year was on Tuesday acquitted by a Lupane magistrate.
Dumisani Sibanda (48) was set free after the court established that he had driven under threat from Zanu-PF youths and genuinely feared for his life.
Sibanda, who was employed as a tractor driver at Mandalay Farm in Umguza, had denied the charges of culpable homicide and that of driving without a licence when he appeared before Lupane magistrate Aelene Munamati.
He was acquitted on both charges.
In acquitting him, the magistrate said the State failed to prove that Sibanda drove the truck without being threatened.
Munamati admitted that although the incident caused the deaths of people, evidence before the court showed that Sibanda was under threat to drive the truck.
She said what might have made Sibanda comply was that, according to his defence, another person in the area had been killed after opposing Zanu-PF youths.
Munamati said the fact that even State witnesses testified that the situation was tense and Sibanda would have been in trouble if he had refused to drive the truck meant that he did not drive it on his own volition.
Seven passengers perished on the spot and three others died on admission at Mpilo Central Hospital. Sixty others were seriously injured when Sibanda lost control of the truck he had been forced to drive on a steep ascent along the Tsholotsho road.
The truck was carrying Zanu-PF supporters heading to a rally at Acute and Cruise Farm in Nyamandlovu that was to be addressed by Umguza MP and Transport minister Obert Mpofu on July 28 2013.
Dumisani Sibanda (48) was set free after the court established that he had driven under threat from Zanu-PF youths and genuinely feared for his life.
Sibanda, who was employed as a tractor driver at Mandalay Farm in Umguza, had denied the charges of culpable homicide and that of driving without a licence when he appeared before Lupane magistrate Aelene Munamati.
He was acquitted on both charges.
In acquitting him, the magistrate said the State failed to prove that Sibanda drove the truck without being threatened.
She said what might have made Sibanda comply was that, according to his defence, another person in the area had been killed after opposing Zanu-PF youths.
Munamati said the fact that even State witnesses testified that the situation was tense and Sibanda would have been in trouble if he had refused to drive the truck meant that he did not drive it on his own volition.
Seven passengers perished on the spot and three others died on admission at Mpilo Central Hospital. Sixty others were seriously injured when Sibanda lost control of the truck he had been forced to drive on a steep ascent along the Tsholotsho road.
The truck was carrying Zanu-PF supporters heading to a rally at Acute and Cruise Farm in Nyamandlovu that was to be addressed by Umguza MP and Transport minister Obert Mpofu on July 28 2013.
Source - Southern Eye
