Trucker gets 2 yrs for 31 deaths

Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau
THE driver of the South Africa-registered haulage truck which side-swiped a Johannesburg-bound Proliner bus killing 31 people on the spot and injuring 40 near Mvuma in April has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Regis Mangwari, who pleaded not guilty when his trial commenced two months ago, last Friday told Mvuma resident magistrate Mr Tayengwa Chibanda that he was now pleading guilty.

Mr Chibanda sentenced Mangwari to two years in prison.

Mangwari will, however, serve one year in jail after 12 months were suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.

Mr Chibanda banned Mangwari from driving for two years.

“The accused is sentenced to two years in prison of which one year is suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour. His Zimbabwe’s driver’s licence is also cancelled and he is prohibited from driving for two years,” he said.

Since Mangwari had been pleading not guilty, the State had brought in four witnesses.

In his evidence prior to the change of plea, Proliner bus driver Mr Tawanda Maoneke told the court that on approaching the 218 kilometre peg along Masvingo-Harare Highway, he saw lights of a vehicle that were in his lane.

“I drove the bus to the left to avoid a head-on collision, but the lights of this vehicle in front of me kept on following me until our vehicles side-swiped,” he said.

Police accident evaluator, Constable Gibson Botsa said Mangwari was accelerating when the accident occurred.

“If the steering wheel had locked like what the accused has been saying, we should have seen a jack-knife of the horse and trailer, at the same time if the steering wheel had locked, the driver should have applied brakes, but there are no skid marks at the accident scene,” he said.

The prosecutor Mr Bernard Nyoni said on April 5, Mangwari was driving a Harare-bound haulage truck from Johannesburg.

The truck was laden with tyres and had South African registration numbers.

Mr Nyoni said on approaching the 218-km peg along the Harare-Masvingo Highway, Mangwari’s truck side-swiped the Proliner bus, killing 31 people.

The court heard that Mangwari acted negligently resulting in loss of life.