Dompoase accident driver jailed five years for manslaughter

Road accidents happen almost every other day in Ghana and those responsible for the accidents go unpunished. However, the same cannot be said for the driver responsible for the Dompoase junction accident.

The Cape -Coast High Court sentenced 45-year-old Mireku Mark, the driver responsible for the accident to five years imprisonment.

The convict was earlier in June given a year term in jail by a Circuit Court in Cape Coast on 34 counts of dangerous driving and negligently causing harm after pleading guilty.

The Circuit Court also banned him from operating as a commercial driver for life and also fined him GHS17,280 or in default serve two years in addition.

This sentence was perceived as not severe, hence the Attorney-General’s Office in Cape Coast led by the State Attorney, Joyce Odame prayed for a higher sentence.

Passing sentence, Justice Kwasi Dapaah told the convict whose demeanor was sober and gloomy, that; “your one mistake caused the lives of 34 people.”

It will be recalled that the convict who was driving a Hyundai bus with registration number GN 3780-10, on Tuesday, January 14, 2020, attempted to over-take another vehicle but collided with a Man Diesel bus with registration number GR 5704-18 at Dompoase Junction near Komenda.

The accident involving two 60-seater passenger buses traveling from the opposite direction on the Accra-Takoradi highway, on that fateful Tuesday dawn, claimed 34 lives including three children, and injured several others.

The deceased included 20 male adults, 11 female adults, and three children two of whom are females and a male.

He was first arraigned at a Cape Coast Magistrate’s Court when he was discharged from the hospital on Thursday, January 17.

However, his counsel, John Benson raised an objection that the magistrate court had no jurisdiction to handle the case.

The court, therefore, discharged Mireku, but he was immediately re-arrested and brought before the Circuit Court, presided over by Dorinda Arthur Smith.

Source: asaaseradio.com