TRAIN COLLISION: PROSECUTION PRESENTS TWO WITNESSES AGAINST BRT DRIVER

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On Friday, the Lagos State Government on presented two witness against the Bus Rapid Transit, (BRT) driver, Oluwaseun Osibanjo, who allegedly caused grievous harm and involuntary manslaughter by running into a moving train.

The Director of Public Prosecution, Dr Babajide Martins, presented one of the survivors of the accident, Mr Rotimi Ogundeji and a Vehicle Inspection Officer(VIO), Mr Ahmed Baruwa to testify against the defendant.

Ogundeji, a 38-year-old civil servant with the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, told the court that the bus came from Ikotun on March 9 and he joined it at Isolo.

He said they prayed and listened to news paper review on their way to work and he slept off thereafter.

According to him: “The last thing I heard was ‘haaaa’ and i quickly opened my eyes to check what was going on. I was seated two sits behind the driver

“Less than five seconds after I jumped up, I could see the train from the window side and I knew the train would definitely hit us.

“The next thing I saw was my bone on the floor. One of the staff in the bus managed to stand up and I quickly told him to pick up my phone for me.

“After that, some two men came in to rescue me,”

The witness said a car conveyed four of the staff to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) where they were given medical attention.

According to him, a doctor in LASUTH pushed his broken bone inside and a surgery was done on him a week after.

He told the court the he did not know the total number of people that died in the accident and that the usual capacity of the bus was between 70 and 80.

While under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Mr Lekan Egberongbe, the witness confirmed to the court that he knew the train as a hard working and committed person

“He had never had accident with the bus apart from this recent one.

“I was sleeping when the accident happened,” he said.

The second witness, the VIO officer, in his evidence in chief said he inspected the remnant of the BRT after it was tolled to Task Force Office in Alausa

According to the officer, the bus was electronically and mechanically built.

“We used the official phone Tecno phone which was connected to the HP laptop and a printer.

“The driver was supposed to carry 40 passengers sitting while 30 standing but there were 85 passengers in the bus on that day,” the VIO officer said.

While under cross-examination, the witness said that he was not at the scene of the accident when it happened and that he was not in the forensic department of VIO.

The Lagos State VIO road inspection report was admitted into evidence.

Justice Oyindamola Ogala adjourned the case until June 16 for ruling on defendant’s bail application and continuation of trial.