TAXI DRIVER SENTENCED FOR CULPABLE HOMICIDE
LUTENDO LIVHEBE – MUDAU- A taxi driver from Kuruman, Aobakwe Molapisi, has been sentenced to five years of direct imprisonment by the Kuruman Regional court. The accused was charged with 6 counts of culpable homicide with the use of a motor vehicle. In August 2012, the accused was driving passengers from Batlharos village to Kuruman town. On the R31 Hotazel road, he encountered a stop-and-go, and shortly after the accident occurred. The state alleged that the accused was driving too close to the vehicle in front of his taxi and not following a proper following-distance, and when the vehicle in front made a sudden brake, the accused was also forced to brake but had to swerve into the oncoming-traffic-lane to avoid a collision. However, it was exactly in that lane that an accident occurred.
Statements were taken from passengers, who later became state witnesses. The accused also made two warning statements to the police, wherein his version of events was like that of state witnesses, and thereafter he made another statement alleging that he had suffered a tyre burst. The State called an expert witness, Proctor-Parker, who is a road-accident-reconstruction-expert, and he indicated that the version of the accused account of events was not supported by the physical evidence, in that there were no road markings on the road surface that would accompany a sudden tyre burst, as alleged by the accused.
During the trial, the accused testified in his defence, wherein he was confronted with the fact that his version of events does not correspond with the physical evidence, nor does it correspond with the version(s) of the State witnesses. After a lengthy trial, wherein the Prosecution called six witnesses and the accused also testified, the court found the accused guilty as charged.
When sentencing the accused, the court remarked that the accused made a huge faux pas by making two warning statements to the police and then disowning his first statement, which accorded exactly with the evidence of the eyewitnesses before the court.
The Court further indicated that even though its purpose was not to serve the revenge of the community, it had a duty to send out a strong message to the communities that there are real consequences for reckless driving by drivers, and this was especially applicable to taxi drivers, who had an extra burden on them to keep their passengers safe. All counts were taken together for sentencing and the accused was sentenced to undergo 5 years of direct imprisonment with the provision of Section 276(1)(i) of the Criminal Procedure Act being applicable.
