35 year old Edwin Namusasi Wafula appears before the Bungoma law courts to answer charges concerning the marakaru accident

35 year old Edwin Namusasi Wafula appears before the Bungoma law courts to answer charges concerning the marakaru accident

By: Timothy Makokha and Mishi Ziro

Court one of the Bungoma law courts full to capacity as people come to witness the case involving Edwin Namusasi Wafula who is the lorry driver of registration number KAW286P that caused an accident at Marakaru on 2/3/2012. Six pupils died on spot, three died on reaching hospital, another one died yesterday while the injured are still receiving treatment in various hospitals.

Anxiety mounts as complainants, and concerned community members wait for judgement of the accused driver today at the Bungoma law courts. Edwin Namusasi Wafula, who is the accused, appeared before court for the crimes he committed.

Chief magistrate hon. Nyarima, momentarily suspended Wafula’s case for 15 minutes as he sought for a full report about the names of those involved in the accident. The magistrate wanted the court prosecutor to name all victims of the accident as required by the law before making the ruling.

At this point only 10 charges had been mentioned against him while other charges were still under investigation by the Bungoma police OCPD. The first nine were charges of murder while the tenth is about breaking of traffic rules.

Silence that gnaws prevailed as each present person in the court was expecting the court to proceed after an extended break that stretched beyond the expected time framework. Parents of the accused were in such a melancholic mood as people within the crowd were pointing accusing fingers in their direction while whispering in low tones.

Wafula was recalled a few minutes later but the files concerning his case were not yet ready leading to another 20 minutes break as files were being sought and consultations made.

As Wafula appeared for the third time before the magistrate hon. Nyarima Walter , he accepted all the charges that so far were labeled against him. Just before a ruling was made, the Bungoma court prosecutor Mr. Oyoo requested the chief magistrate to defer the case for two weeks as per the request by the police OCPD.  This was meant to give the police enough time to look into the matter.

According to the police report, facts of the case are not ready as deaths are many and several victims are still in the ICU. The number of the dead had also changed increasing from 9 to 10.

The accused leaded guilty of the charges that had been mentioned already but the chief magistrate said the case is to be heard on 19/3/2012 in the same court.