Killer driver nabbed at Beitbridge
SOUTH AFRICAN police yesterday morning arrested the driver of an Intercape bus, which killed nine Zimbabweans, including a toddler in a road accident near Polokwane last Friday.
The bus was travelling from Harare to Johannesburg.
Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said the man disappeared from a hospital in Polokwane at the weekend and was arrested at Beitbridge Border Post by alert police officers.
He said the man has been charged with nine counts of culpable homicide and will appear before a Polokwane magistrate on Tuesday.
Col Ngoepe withheld the suspect’s name pending his court appearance and that they were still working on identifying the nine victims.
“The police in Westenburg outside Polokwane have arrested the driver of the bus that was involved in a horrific accident. He tried to cross the border to Zimbabwe after he was taken to hospital with other 51 injured passengers for medical treatment,” he said.
“As the process of intensive investigations by the police was unfolding, especially on the possible cause of that accident, he then disappeared following his discharge from hospital and fled towards Beitbridge.
“The police were then tipped-off, they responded swiftly and subsequently, the driver was caught hidden inside the goods trailer trying to illegally cross the border to Zimbabwe.
“This arrested suspect will appear before the Polokwane Magistrate Court on Tuesday the 26 September, 2018 on nine counts of culpable homicide and on the possible additional charges at a later stage.
“His arrest follows a culpable homicide where nine passengers lost their lives during a bus crash which occurred along the N1 South road in the early hours of Friday last week.”
Col Ngoepe said the bus was travelling from the direction of Polokwane towards Gauteng Province when the driver lost control and it overturned and carrying 61 people including the crew.
Zimbabwe’s Consul-General to South Africa Mr Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro said they were working with authorities in the neighbouring country in identifying the deceased pending repatriation of their remains back home for burial.