THE commuter omnibus driver who hit and killed a pedestrian with his vehicle while trying to evade arrest by police officers on Tuesday this week, appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday facing a culpable homicide charge.
Staff Reporters
Takesure Musara (20), of Section 3, Kambuzuma, pleaded guilty to the charge when he appeared before magistrate Arnold Maburo who remanded him in custody to today for sentence.
Prosecutor Oscar Madume told the court that on Tuesday this week at around 1200hrs, Musara was driving a Nissan Caravan omnibus along Chinhoyi Street in Harare heading in the southern direction while in the company of an unidentified bus conductor who was touting for passengers while standing by the vehicle passenger door.
The court heard that at the time Musara had seven passengers on board.
The State said when Musara was approaching the intersection of Chinhoyi and Bank streets, he saw two police officers who were on patrol and he suddenly engaged his vehicle into reverse gear and in the process knocked down a pedestrian who was crossing the road behind him.
The pedestrian, Raphel Mbanje, sustained injuries that led to his death on the spot.
According to the court papers, the police allege Musara failed to keep proper lookout of the road behind and failed to sound the horn or failed to stop or act reasonably when the accident was imminent. Meanwhile, Mbanje’s father-in-law Albert Mashatise told NewsDay yesterday that the deceased would be laid to rest at Chimukoko Village in Mudzi today.
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In an interview on the sidelines of Mbanje’s funeral wake in Eastview, Mabvuku, the deceased’s widow Lillian said her husband had died while he was on his way to look for school fees for some of his seven children.
“Our children had not been going to school because we had no money. On the day that he (Mbanje) died he had received a promise to get some money and he wanted to collect that money so he could come back and pay the fees. He died before he was able to do that,” a visibly distraught Lillian said.
