A 31-year-old man from Bulawayo’s Pelandaba surburb yesterday heaved a sigh of relief when he escaped a jail term after a magistrate cautioned and discharged him following conviction on culpable homicide.
PATIENCE RATAMBWA OWN CORRESPONDENT
This was after he hit his two year-old-son, as he reversed a vehicle in April.
Mhondiwa Bwanya, was convicted on his own plea of guilty, when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Temba Chimiso.
In mitigation Bwanya, who was in tears, told the court that he was the sole breadwinner and was asking for the court’s leniency.
“I am the eldest son in my family and I take care of 15 siblings, five of who go to school. I also support my own child in addition to that,” the weeping Bwanya said.
Bwanya admitted that he had been negligent in his conduct, as he started the engine without checking beneath the vehicle and had thought the children were in the house.
“I did check behind and underneath the car prior to reversing the car your worship,” he said.
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“The children were taken inside the house before I moved the car from its usual parking space.
“The accident then occurred while I was pushing the vehicle, after the children were taken inside.
“I do not know how my child got behind the car.”
Charges against Bwanya were that on April 3 Bwanya was at his home in Pelandaba when he reversed a Toyota Hiace while his son Esphat was playing behind the vehicle.
He hit him with the vehicle and he sustained serious head injuries before he was ferried to Mpilo Central Hospital, where he died on admission.
The results of the post mortem from Mpilo Hospital recorded a swollen head and crashed bones.
The serious injuries in the head sustained during the accident were the cause of death.
