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Sylvester Chiramba, Court Reporter
A BULAWAYO man arrested for reckless driving has told a magistrate that a police officer was to blame for an accident that occurred in Mpopoma suburb resulting in eight people being injured.

Vulindlela Nyoni (34) of Nketa suburb was involved in an accident last Friday at the intersection of Hyde Park road and Nketa drive in Mpopoma suburb.

Nyoni appeared before Western commonage magistrate Mr Stephen Ndhlovu yesterday facing three counts of driving without a licence, reckless driving and carrying passengers for reward without a permit. He pleaded guilty to all the charges.

However, on the reckless driving charge, Nyoni said the accident was caused by a police officer who was a passenger in his car.

“The police officer who had arrested me pulled the handbrake and since it was wet the car skidded past the red robot into passing traffic,” said Nyoni.

Mr Ndhlovu, who was about to sentence him, remanded Nyoni out of custody to November 29 for a witness to be summoned to testify on the claim that a police officer pulled the handbrake, leading to the accident.

Prosecuting, Mr Tony Kamudyariwa said last week on Friday at around 9PM, Nyoni was driving a Honda fit along Nketa drive towards the city centre when he picked up two police officers in plains clothes who were arresting pirate taxis.

“At the intersection of Hyde Park road and Nketa drive, the accused person increased his speed towards a red robot. At that point he drove through the intersection disregarding the red robot and collided with another vehicle, a Toyota Corolla,” he said.

“Upon impact with the first vehicle, the accused person lost control of the vehicle and it went and collided with another vehicle which was stationary.”

The court also heard that Nyoni’s car suffered serious frontal damages on the front left side which were consistent with an intersection collision.

The injured people were referred to Mpilo Central Hospital for treatment. – @SlyCee10