6 August 2008
THE BUSINESSMAN who crashed into the President's vehicle on November 14, last year, at the Opeibea House traffic light intersection, in the Greater Accra Region, has been convicted by an Accra Fast Track High Court (FTC) for committing grave motor traffic offences and causing injury to other road users.
Mr. Thomas Osei was found guilty on four counts of dangerous driving, negligently causing harm as well as failing to give way to Presidential convoy sirens and sentenced to 9 months imprisonment, to begin from the day he was remanded.
The convict, who had spent nearly nine months on remand was further ordered to pay 200 penalty units in addition to the imprisonment term, 2000 penalty units for the damage he caused the President's vehicle, which is to run consecutively and an additional 150 penalty units each for failing to give way to the Presidential convoy sirens, causing harm to the President's Driver, and another Driver whose vehicle was stationary, to run concurrently.
In all, the penalty units to be paid by the convict amounted to GH¢29,200 in default of three years imprisonment. The court, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Ayebi, however, discharged the convict on the charges of driving under the influence of Alcohol and the use of narcotic drug.
Osei who was banned from driving a motor vehicle for 3 years, was asked to submit his service passport to the immigration service while the two others seized by the police was asked to be returned to him.
The court further ordered Osei to write a formal letter apologising to the President for his acts, the court again ordered that his driving license should be retrieved from him.
Thomas Osei was charged with dangerous driving contrary to Section 1 of the Motor traffic offences Act 2004(Act 683), negligently causing harm contrary to Section 72 of the Criminal offences Act 1960, (Act 29), Driving under the influence of Alcohol, contrary to Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act 2004, failing to give way to Presidential convoy sirens contrary to Regulation 14 of Road Traffic Regulation 1974 (L.I. 952) and the Use of narcotic drugs, contrary to Section 5 of the Narcotic Drug (Control Enforcement and Sanctions) law 1990 PNDCL 236. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges leveled against him.
The court's judgement came in the wake of facts and evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defense.
It was the prosecution's case that Thomas Osei, on November 14, 2007, at the Opeibea House traffic light intersection, drove a vehicle with registration number GT 2989 W in a dangerous manner that he ignored all signs to stop and as a result crashed into the President's vehicle in a Presidential convoy, which was crossing at the time.
According to the prosecution, the negligence of the accused person subsequently caused harm to one Emmanuel Osei Addo, who was driving the President and one, King Joe Osei Kufuor, when the President's vehicle fell on his V.W Golf car.
Additionally, prosecution noted that the accused person at the time of the accident was under the influence of Alcohol which measured 0.41 on the Alco-sensor III as he failed to stop when he was being signaled to do so by a police officer on traffic duty.
Prosecution further told the court that immediately after the accident, a laboratory test conducted on the urine of the accused person proved positive for cocaine, which he earlier administered into his body without lawful authority.
In its judgement, the court noted that there were inconsistencies in the prosecution witnesses but would not fail to take their evidence into consideration, stressing that it was strange for the defense to argue that the prosecution witnesses were coached.
According to the court, the accused person, under the law, should drive carefully so as to protect other road users, indicating that Thomas Osei failed to look out carefully while getting to the traffic light.
It was in the court's view that Thomas Osei failed to adhere to the traffic regulation and drove dangerously and endangered the President's life as he blocked his ears from hearing the sirens of the Presidential convoy by rolling up the glass of his vehicle.
The court noted that evidence showed that the impact of the collision on the President's vehicle was great, adding that Thomas Osei ignored the sirens of the Presidential convoy, even though all the vehicle in the convoy were having sirens and were blurring.
Furthermore, the court held that the accused person intentionally caused harm to the Driver of the Golf car as well as the Driver of the President, as they sustained injuries as a result and were treated at the 37 Military Hospital.
Discharging the accused person on the charge of driving under the influence of Alcohol, the court indicated that the mere fact that the accused smelled of alcohol was not enough to warrant conviction.
The court noted that the accused person accepted taking some alcohol but rejected evidence that a test conducted on him revealed a 41% of alcohol. It therefore held that it was reasonably probable that the test was conducted not within two hours as the law requires, in view of the evidence before it.
It was the view of the court that if that level of alcohol concentration was in the accused person, he would have entered into a comma, emphasizing that the accused person was able to drive from the direction he was coming from.
Similarly, on the charges of Narcotic drug use, the court asserted that there was not enough evidence before it to warrant a conviction as evidence of confession could not be acceptable, since it lacked the required manner under the laws for it to be proven beyond reasonable doubts.
Justice Ayebi, therefore called on the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) that it must sustain education on the effective use of sirens in the country.
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