Villagers deny stealing cash, goods from bus accident scene

VILLAGERS living close to the site where a King Lion bus rammed into a tree in the Nyamakate area last Wednesday night, killing 43 people on the spot, have denied reports they stole cash and goods belonging to the deceased.

This comes amid reports that families of the deceased were failing to locate their departed relatives' personal belongings and cash.

The villagers said police, who attended to the scene and retrieved both the dead and injured passengers from the wreckage should, be held accountable for the missing goods.

One of the villagers, Benjamin Mazi, told NewsDay yesterday that four of the five police officers at the scene were searching the deceased's pockets for valuables and identification documents, while one of them was recording the recovered goods.

"Of the five police officers who arrived earlier than others at the scene, four were doing the searching while the fifth one was recording what was found on the person against the name on the passport….So if anything is missing, go and tell them to ask the police officers, who were at the accident scene before others came," he said.

Another villager, who identified himself as Takunda, said police officers from Makuti Police Station should be accountable for what was found at the scene of the accident.

"Everything, be it cellphones or money was being handed over to some officer from Makuti Police Station whom we can name," he said.

A relative of the deceased Francis Chavaraidze, Kennedy, said their relative had two cellphones and an undisclosed amount of money, but recovered nothing when they collected his body from Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital mortuary.

Another relative, Promise Maphosa, said: "The police should just surrender what was found on the deceased to whoever is claiming the body … sometimes we don't know how much someone had on him since they were going to buy goods for resale back home."

A police officer at Makuti, who identified himself as Superintendent Mupande, assured relatives of the deceased that they will get property belonging to their deceased or injured relatives.

"When it comes to valuables, it's an issue because we don't rule out the possibilities that a police officer or a nurse can steal, but during an accident of this nature, we have a way of managing that we assign an officer to to deal with properties … don't worry we will give you the property," he said.

Meanwhile, all the 43 bodies at Chinhoyi Hospital mortuary have been identified and collected, except bodies of two Zambians, which are awaiting repatriation papers.