Commercial bus driver, 30, gets N500,000 bail for manslaughter

March 22, 2017 11:52 PM

A bus driver has been arraigned in court over a three-count charge of dangerous driving, driving without licence and manslaughter.

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A 30-year-old commercial bus driver docked for allegedly driving without a driver’s licence and knocking down two pedestrians was on Wednesday in Lagos granted N500,000 bail.

Ibe Opara, the accused, whose address is unknown, had pleaded not guilty to a three-count charge of dangerous driving, driving without licence and manslaughter.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr Titus Abolarinwa, who gave the ruling at an Apapa Magistrates’ Court, told the accused to produce two sureties in like sum, one of whom must be a landed property owner in the state.

The prosecutor, Insp. Tony Elibeh, had told the court that the accused drove recklessly and knocked down two pedestrians, Chibuike Ogbonna and Abdulazeez Mohammed, who were walking along the road.

He said that Mohammed sustained injuries while Ogbonna died instantly.

Elibeh said Opara, who drove a Ford commercial bus with Lagos registration number AGL 823 XP, committed the offences on March 5, at Agboju area on Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

He said that a team of traffic management officials rushed to the scene and took Mohammed and the lifeless body of Ogbonna to the hospital.

The offences contravened Sections 19, 20 and 28 of the Road Traffic Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The magistrate adjourned the case until April 4 for mention.