GWANDA —A 44-year-old motorist from St Christopher’s area was on Monday convicted of culpable homicide after his truck collided with a commuter omnibus and killed two people along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road two months ago.
Tirivavi Totamirepi was found guilty of the charge despite his plea and was remanded out of custody to July 9 for sentence.
Magistrate Innocent Bepura ruled that Totamirepi’s truck encroached into the opposite lane, resulting in a head-on collision with an on-coming commuter omnibus at the 24km peg.
Public prosecutor Jefter Nyikadzinashe told the court that on April 12, Totamirepi was driving a Mahindra pick-up truck heading towards Bulawayo when he lost control of the vehicle, leading to the collision.
One passenger aboard the commuter omnibus died on the spot, while another once died on admission at the United Bulawayo Hospital. The deceased were identified as Nkosilathi Baloyi and Jabulani Mathuthu.
Four witnesses who testified in the trial accused Totamirepi of driving negligently and causing the accident.
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These included two passengers from the kombi, an official with the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) and a traffic police evaluation officer.
The passengers told the court Totamirepi was speeding, while the VID officer said the vehicle had worn-out tyres.
Totamirepi was represented by two lawyers, Thompson Mabikwa and Michel Chigova.