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The infamous driver in the crash that claimed 34 lives at the Dompoase junction earlier this year was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison by the Cape Coast Superior Court for manslaughter.
The convict, Mireku Mark, 45, had been sentenced to one year in jail by a Circuit Court in Cape Coast on 34 counts of dangerous driving and causing negligent damage after pleading guilty.
The Circuit Court that prohibited him from operating as a commercial driver for life and also fined him GH ¢ 17,280.00 or in arrears to serve two more years.
The Cape Coast Attorney General’s Office led by State’s Attorney Ms. Joyce Odame prayed for a higher sentence.
Upon sentencing, Judge Kwasi Dapaah told the convict, whose demeanor was sober and somber, that; “Your one mistake caused the lives of 34 people.”
It will be recalled that the convict driving a Hyundai bus with registration GN 3780-10, on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, tried to run over another vehicle but collided with a Man Diesel bus with registration GR 5704-18. at Dompoase Junction near Komenda.
The accident involving two 60-seater passenger buses traveling in the opposite direction on the Accra-Takoradi highway in the fateful early morning of Tuesday claimed 34 lives, including three children, and injured several more.
Among the deceased are 20 adult men, 11 adult women and three children, two of whom are women and one man.
He was first tried in Cape Coast Magistrates Court when he was released from the hospital on Thursday, January 17.
However, his attorney, Mr. John Benson, objected that the trial court had no jurisdiction to handle the case.
The court, therefore, dismissed Mireku, but he was immediately arrested again and brought before the Circuit Court, presided over by Ms. Dorinda Arthur Smith.
—GNA
