The driver of the Tynwald High School bus that was involved in an accident that claimed the lives of six learners who were on a road trip to Nyanga last month faces seven counts of culpable homicide.
The bus driver, Chamunorwa Machimbidzofa, who was wanted by police in Mutare, was arrested in Harare on Tuesday after evading police for three weeks.
He was taken to Mutare for further investigations.
A Geography and Sociology Upper 6 teacher at Tynwald High School, who was part of the trip succumbed to injuries at Avenues Clinic on Tuesday bringing the death toll to seven.
ZRP national spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi revealed that Machimbidzofa was arrested in the city while moving around offering condolences to some of the parents of the deceased. Said Asst Comm Nyathi:
He was arrested yesterday (Tuesday) in Harare and had been on the run for three weeks. He did not cooperate with the police also after the accident and has been playing hide and seek. He is likely to face culpable homicide charges.
Police reportedly tried to contact Machimbidzofa several times but he would refer them to his “lawyer”.
He also wasn’t reporting for duty at the school, resulting in the school not giving him his salary.
The Tynwald High School bus was involved in a fatal accident in Juliusdale, Nyanga on Friday, 14 October 2022 around 7 PM, with reports suggesting that the driver was speeding and failed to negotiate a sharp curve.
Six pupils, five female and one male, died from head injuries after the bus overturned and landed on its roof near Pine Tree Hotel at the 75km peg along the Rusape-Nyanga Road.
Thirty-nine other learners and staff members were injured and were taken to Nyanga District Hospital and Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital in Mutare.
The pupils who perished in the accident are Anesuishe Hove (14) of Bluffhill in Harare; Beyonce Guyo (15) of Madokero, Harare; Anita Manyuka (16) of Tynwald Harare; Destiny Dziva (14) of Avondale Harare; Kimberly Tarisai Mutusva (15) of Chitepo Heights, Harare and Craig Madanhire (age unknown), a male juvenile.
What is culpable homicide?
If the court concludes that the accused did not foresee the possibility of death but that he should have foreseen it (i.e that a reasonable man would have foreseen it) and the reasonable person would have guarded against it, the correct verdict is culpable homicide. –
