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A Cape Coast Superior Court has sentenced the driver who killed 34 people and injured a dozen more at Dompoase Junction on the Cape Coast-Takoradi Highway to five years in prison.
The driver, Mireku Mark, was charged with thirty-four [34] dangerous driving charges in violation of the Road Traffic Act 2004, [Act 683] as amended by the Road Traffic Act 2008 [Act 761] and eighteen [18] Charges of causing damage by negligence contrary to the Criminal and Other Offenses Act 1960 [Act 29].
But the Republic appealed against the sentence and conviction of the driver saying that the conviction and sentence of the judge of first instance were contrary to the law.
The 14th January 2020, at approximately 12:10 am, the Defendant, the driver, was in charge of the JAC HK612H bus with registration number GN 3780-10 with at least 42 passengers on board driving from Accra to Takoradi. Upon reaching a stretch of road in Dompoase near Komenda Junction on the main Cape Coast-Takoradi highway, he was carelessly passing an unidentified articulated truck that was leading as it approached a curve.
In the process, an approaching bus with registration number GR 5704-18 also with at least 52 passengers on board emerged from the curve in the opposite lane from Takoradi in the direction of Accra. The now deceased driver of said bus, along with the defendant driver, realizing the danger ahead, simultaneously veered onto the shoulder of the road in the direction of Cape Coast. Both buses eventually crashed resulting in serious damage to both buses and both drivers suffered varying degrees of injuries.
The appeal emanated from the Circuit Court in Cape Coast presided over by Her Honor Dorinda Smith Arthur, who convicted and sentenced Mireku Mark, the driver, to twelve 12-month prison terms for count one. [1] and 12 months in prison for each charge from charge one [1] count thirty four [34] to run at the same time.
Again, it sentenced the driver to pay a fine of eighty-80 penalty units for charges of thirty-five [35] count fifty [50]. By default, 8 months in prison for each charge.
However, it ordered that the sentence be executed consecutively and, consequently, prohibited the defendant from driving for commercial purposes for a period of 5 years, in case of non-compliance, to serve 2 years in prison.
The Republic, in its appeal against the conviction and the sentence before the court, argued that the penalty of one year imposed by the court of first instance on the driver in relation to the crime at the time of the conviction was contrary to the law .
Your Honor, Judge Kwasi Dapaah, pointed out in his ruling that the trial court made a serious mistake in imposing a one-year sentence on the defendant in respect of the crime of dangerous driving.
He stated that there was no doubt, the driver showed an undisciplined attitude on the day in question and therefore must pay for it. He further stated that the driver’s act resulted in a national disaster that caused the loss of 34 innocent people, an act that, he indicates, cannot be compensated and therefore the law must be strictly applied.
“In the circumstances and in accordance with the provisions of article 30 of the 1993 Courts Act [Act 459] as amended, sentenced the Respondent to a prison term of five [5] years in positions 2, 3 and 4 to run simultaneously, “he said.
Judge Kwasi Dapaah stressed that the trial judge apparently misinterpreted the law and found himself on the wrong side of the law. He explained that the trial judge should have ordered that the sentence be executed at the same time and not consecutively, but that was not the case.
It also overturned the order of the trial judge that the sentence in respect of counts 35 to 52 should be executed consecutively and ordered that the sentence should be executed at the same time.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I set aside the order of the court of first instance in the sense that:” In total a fine of GHC17,280 in 144 months by default, “it ordered.
