Killer Driver Granted Bail

THE truck driver alleged to have  crushed a taxi at the Okponglo Junction and instantly killed two Level I00 students of the University of Ghana, Legon,  has been granted bail by the Madina District Magistrate Court.
 Kwaku Ababio, 47, who made his first appearance before the court was granted bail in the sum  GH¢15,000 with two sureties, one of which is to be justified.
 The Legon Police Command which arrested the driver arraigned him  on charges of inconsiderate driving and negligently causing harm.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Agnes Boafo told the court that on Friday, January 18, 2013, at about 1:30 a.m.,  the taxi driver, Gilbert Darko,  25,  was in charge a Kia Avera taxi, with registration number GE 645 X, from Okponglo towards the Legon campus of the University of Ghana with two students on board.
 Ababio, she said,  was also driving a Mercedes Benz refuse truck, with registration number  GE 4707-12, from Madina towards the Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout when the two  cars collided in the Okponglo traffic box.
The occupants of the taxi, namely, Lordina Fobih and Deborah Akosua-Denkyiraa Benaye, both 19,  sustained  serious  injuries and were rushed to the 37 Military Hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
According to Chief Inspector Boafo,  Darko who also sustained severe injuries is, however, on admission at the 37 Military Hospital while the bodies of the deceased had been deposited in the mortuary of the same hospital.
The Magistrate, Mariama Samnio  admitted the accused to bail, while the docket has been  forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Department for advice.
The Daily Graphic on  January I9 , 20I3,  carried the tragic story of  the two  female students of the University of Ghana, Legon, as having died in an accident at Okponglo Junction when the taxi on which they were travelling collided with a refuse truck when the amber lights of the six traffic lights were blinking simultaneously.
The blinking of the amber lights meant that drivers should drive cautiously, since any of them could cross the intersection.
 Lordina  and Deborah who  were residents of the Elizabeth Sey Frances Hall, were said to be returning to the campus  after socialisation when the incident occurred.
Lordina had been identified as the daughter of Professor Dominic Fobih, a former Minister for Lands, Mines and Forestry.
mary.mensah@graphic.com.gh