‘DD’ KOMBI DRIVER OVERLOADS, ARRESTED

MANZINI – A kombi driver who told the court he drank Castle Lite beer was arrested after he was found to have overloaded a Toyota Quantum by 10 people.

Mfanafuthi Dlamini (24) of Bhadzeni yesterday appeared before Senior Magistrate Sindisile Zwane, after he was arrested and slapped with two offences.

He was arrested near Mabovini-Sicunusa MR4 Public Road, while he was driving a Toyota Quantum.
When the police stopped him, a strong smell of alcohol allegedly came out of the public transport vehicle.
While searching the kombi, traffic police officers discovered that he had actually overloaded his kombi by 10 passengers instead of the 15.

Dlamini had a total of 25 passengers  onboard.
When his breath test was taken, the alcohol content was found to be 0.54mg/l when the legal limit stands at 0.10mg/l for public transport operators.

During his court appearance, Senior Magistrate Zwane, who was equally shocked, asked the accused why he committed such serious offences.

Dlamini told the court that he had just dropped off some members of the public when he decided to assist some stranded people whom he allegedly found along the way home.

“So you are Jesus Christ? By overloading the public transport vehicle, you wanted to add more beers, you wanted to buy a case of Castle Lite and drink more?
“Your actions are unbelievable accused person. In the midst of the evening, you decided to commit such serious offences.
“During the evening, a person’s vision becomes unclear, how much more when that person is under the influence of alcohol?
“You could have also increased the number of fatalities, instead of 15 people dying, a total number of 25 people would have been in the statistics, which is very unfair,” Magistrate Zwane said.
The magistrate further mentioned that the accused person’s actions equalled to murder, and he had to be seriously dealt with by the court even for the deterrence of would-be offenders.
For drink-driving, Dlamini was sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of E2 000 fine.
For overloading, the accused was given the same sentence.
At the time of compiling this report, the kombi driver had not been able to pay the E4 000 fine.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: