BUY CASH DRIVER BLAMES COP FOR CRASH

PIGG’S PEAK – Had a police officer not advised a driver who had been transporting cash to driver faster, he would not have crashed the vehicle he was driving.

The driver, Mbongiseni Gumedze, appeared at the Pigg’s Peak Magistrates Court yesterday for reckless driving in that he failed to control his vehicle, which overturned, injuring a police officer who was a passenger.

 Gumedze is employed as a driver at Buy Cash Hardware. 

He was driving a Toyota Wish at the time of the accident. 

Guilty

He pleaded guilty to the charge of violating a section of the Road Traffic Act. 

He appeared before Senior Magistrate Siphosini Dlamini. 

Gumedze said on the day of the accident, he was returning from a place known as KaNcesi to collect takings from the Buy Cash Hardware branch there. He said the accident happened along the way to Pigg’s Peak.

When the magistrate asked Gumedze why he was driving way above the stipulated speed on the road, he said the police officer who was a passenger advised him to do so. 

Gumedze said the police officer said people who transported cash should drive faster.  

However, as he was driving, Gumedze failed to control the vehicle, which overturned. 

He was treated at the Pigg’s Peak Government Hospital and discharged. 

In court, Gumedze could not state the condition of the police officer but said he last visited him on September 28, 2020 at the hospital.

The magistrate also wanted to know how long Gumedze had been legally driving a motor vehicle. 

He responded that he has been driving for three years. 

Testing 

Gumedze was then asked how much he paid the testing instructor for him to obtain a licence, but he said he did not pay anything.  

During the trial, the magistrate asked Gumedze if he was still employed at Buy Cash Hardware, to which he responded positively.  However, Gumedze said he had not been allocated another vehicle yet.

In his plea for leniency, Gumedze said he had a six-month-old child to take care of and that he was married. He said his wife was not employed. 

He was sentenced to 10 months behind bars or to pay a fine of E2 000.

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