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Trust Lupondo

Senior Reporter
AN unlicensed truck driver who knocked down and killed former Bulawayo deputy mayor Alderman Charles Mpofu yesterday told a court he was compelled to drive the vehicle by his boss, a former police officer. In mitigation before the sentencing of Trust Lupondo, 34, of Upper Rangemore, his lawyer, Modicai Donga of Lazarus and Sarif legal practitioners, told Western Commonage magistrate Themba Chimiso his client committed the offence out of compulsion, poverty and a moment of weakness.
Said Donga: “Compulsion, poverty and a moment of weakness on the part of my client caused the commitment of the crime. My client was working for (name withheld) a former high ranking police officer and was forced to drive the truck without a licence despite pleading with him. He was threatened with dismissal if he refused to drive the truck.”

Lupondo, who is facing one count of driving without a licence and culpable homicide, was remanded in custody to tomorrow for sentencing.
Donga said Lupondo could not refuse and was therefore left at the mercy of his boss.

“In a moment of weakness and because of the accused’s poverty, he had no option but to drive the truck and then committed the offence,” he said.
Prosecutor Tony Kamudyariwa urged the court to give a deterrent sentence.

“Day in day out, lives are lost on our roads due to negligence on the part of drivers like what the accused did. Yes, he pleaded not guilty but that does not take away the weight of the offence,” he said.

Lupondo was driving a Ford truck carrying sand when he rammed into a Nissan Sunny parked beside a road with Ald Mpofu and a friend inside.
Ald Mpofu, who was 55, sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit but died the following day at around 9PM.