TellZim
Reporter
The man who on 28 August
2020 crashed his car onto three people, killing them instantly, before fleeing
from the scene has gotten off the so-called long arm of the law lightly after
being sentenced to community service.
Magistrate Patience
Madondo sentenced Tendai Gondo to 24 months imprisonment but went on to suspend
12 months on condition that he will not commit a similar offence for the next
five years.
The other 12 months we
suspended on condition that he complete 420 hours of community service at Burombo
Primary School.
Gondo, of Runyararo
West high density suburb, only handed himself over to the police the following
day after the accident.
He faced charges of
driving without a licence, negligent driving, failure to stop after causing an
accident, culpable homicide in which three people lost their lives and four
were seriously injured.
The court ruled that
the accused’s negligence on the day in question was ordinary and did not
warrant a custodial sentence since he panicked after realising that he had
bumped onto the back of another vehicle.
Gondo, who had driven
on the wrong lane after causing an accident, failed to control his motor
vehicle and went on to hit seven pedestrians who were walking on the side of
Jongwe Road towards Pangolin shopping centre.
The State had submitted
that the accused’s driving on the day in question was reckless and deserved a
custodial sentence.
The people who were
killed in the accident are Martha Mutseka (50) who had visited ailing relatives,
Nyasha Sithole (26) and five-moths-old Wendy Mubata who died upon admission at
Masvingo Provincial Hospital.
