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Victim wins $8 000, R12 000 in damages

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A BULAWAYO woman, Florence Moyo, has been granted $8 822 and R12 000 compensation after she successfully sued South African bus company, Mzansi Express, for injuries sustained in a road accident that occurred along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road on February 25, 2014.

A BULAWAYO woman, Florence Moyo, has been granted $8 822 and R12 000 compensation after she successfully sued South African bus company, Mzansi Express, for injuries sustained in a road accident that occurred along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road on February 25, 2014.

BY SILAS NKALA

Moyo had sued Mzansi Express and its driver, Isaac Mabhanti Ncube, for negligence and causing her to be injured.

In his ruling delivered last week, Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi said: “This is a case in which when everything has been taken into account, the plaintiff should be awarded the sum of $4 000 for pain and suffering and loss of amenities of life. In the result, it is ordered that judgment is, hereby, entered against first defendant (Mzansi) and second defendant (Ncube) jointly and severally the one paying the other to be absolved in the sum of R12 000, $4 822, $4 000. Interests on all sums at the prescribed rate from September 9, 2014 to payment date and costs of the suit.”

The accident happened as Moyo was travelling to Mussina. Witnesses told the court that the bus was speeding and overtaking other vehicles, swerving at some points, before it veered off the road and overturned.

Moyo submitted in her declaration that the accident was caused by the driver’s negligence, driving at high speed and recklessly overtaking. She also claimed that the accident was caused by the company’s failure to service the bus.

She was seeking payment of $6 000 special damages, and general damages for pain, loss of amenities of life and permanent disfigurement in the sum of $80 000, but the court slashed her demands.