A motorist
who crushed a female police officer to death when he failed to stop at a
roadblock on Sunday appeared in court yesterday.
Jardine Heath
Roy (35) of Number 3 Reudes Flo Road in Fortunes Gate was not formally charged
with culpable homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol.
Bulawayo provincial magistrate Mrs Thobekile
Mkhosana-Matibe granted him $500 bail and he should reside at his given address
until the finalisation of the matter.
The court
also ordered him to surrender his passport to the clerk of the Provincial
Magistrate’s Court and he should report to Bulawayo Police Traffic twice a
week, on Mondays and Fridays.
In granting
him bail, the court said the State had failed to produce any evidence to show
that he would not stand trial except to say the crime he was facing was a
serious one.
Roy will next
appear in court on 22 June, which has been set as the trial date by the State
and his defence counsel is Mr Josiniah Maupa of Mkushi, Foroma and Maupa Legal
Practitioners in Kwekwe.
Seeking the
postponement, Mr Carrington Dhliwayo, for the State, said the State is yet to
receive the post-mortem report of Sergeant Ottilia Magwenya (36) and that
police investigations have not been completed.
He said the
State was also waiting for the valuator’s report and the breathalyser report. The
court heard that on 3 June, Roy was driving a Land Rover Defender coming from
Fortunes Gate towards the city centre.
Three police
officers, including Sgt Magwenya, were manning a speed trap along 12th Avenue
Extension opposite the United Bulawayo Hospitals. When approaching the speed
trap at around 2pm, Roy’s vehicle was caught doing 137km per hour in a 70km per
hour zone.
The court
heard that Sgt Magwenya, who was dressed in police uniform with reflective
material, moved onto the road signalling Roy to stop.
Instead of
stopping his vehicle, the State alleges, he hit Sgt Magwenya who was by then
trying to run away from the road. The police officer died on the spot.
After his
arrest, Roy was taken to the police station for breath test and his reading was
232mg per 100ml of blood, the State will seek to prove.
The
particulars of negligence that the State will seek to prove are that Roy was
travelling at an excessive speed, failed to keep a proper lookout and failed to
stop or act reasonably when an accident or collision seemed imminent.
Meanwhile,
Sgt Magwenya’s body was yesterday morning taken to her rural home in Guruve in
Mashonaland Central Province. CHRONICLE
3 comments:
Other police officers be careful, hiding with your speed traps and suddenly jumping on the road, you die for a $10 bribe that you want.
i dont condone such acts from motorists but as a Police officer u shldnt compromise hupenyu hwako by dangerously positioning yourself infront of an oncoming vehicle. even pamaroadblock asiri ma-speed trap u find an officer akamira in e middle of e road akatofuratira mota dzirikuuya. thats wen u come across vanhu vasina kukwana then pozoyitika njodzi dzakadai. may her soul RIP.
hey wena wafira pabasa RIP my gal
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