TRAIN/BRT COLLISSION: THIRD PROSECUTION WITNESS RECOUNTS ORDEAL

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Oluwajani Fayokemi, a prosecution witness in the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) collision case, has described her experience before the occurrence of the crash.

At the resumption of the trial on Friday, Fayokemi testified before an Ikeja high court that she was hurt in the crash.

She claimed that since 2018, she had been utilizing the BRT 33, a staff bus operated by the Lagos State Government, which is driven by the defendant, Oluwaseun Osibanjo, accident-free.

The witness who was led in evidence by Mr. Jonathan Ogunsanya, a deputy director in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, stated that the BRT made its regular route from Jakande Gate to Alausa Secretariat on March 9.

“When we got to the PWD Junction of the train track, we heard the horn of a coming train.”

The witness claimed that once the passengers on the bus began addressing the driver, whom they thought of as “Oluomo,” they heard a bang.

According to Fayokemi, the bus was forced onto the track by the train.

The witness claims that she fainted at that moment and was aware of what was going on around her for a few minutes.

She said: “Few minutes later, I heard banging the door and glass; the banging woke me up. There were passers-by and ‘area boys’ trying to rescue passengers.

“I was carried on my leg and hands, by the boys, out of the bus because I could not move. They also carried other passengers who were injured out of the bus, while good Samaritans in private cars also assisted.

“There is one lady I know very well. Olayinka is her name. I saw that a stone hit her head and blood was gushing out of her head. Later on, at LASUTH, I found out that she passed away,” the witness said.

The witness was questioned by the prosecution’s attorney about how many people were transported to LASUTH. She claimed that they were many and really hurt.

She added that she was aware that six accident victims had passed away at LASUTH by the next day and that another woman, identified as Alhaja, had also passed away.

When the witness was questioned if she remembered her police statement after regaining consciousness, the defence attorney, Mr. Lekan Egberongbe, said that the incident was still vivid in her memory.

After that, Egberongbe requested that she highlight a passage from her police statement in which she claimed that onlookers heard a nearby train horn and yelled out to the driver.

The witness claimed that certain details were left out of her written statement.

She replied that she was seated in the middle, near the second door on the first seat, when the defence attorney questioned where she was sitting on the bus.

The prosecuting attorney protested, arguing that the driver should have been the one most harmed because he was seated in front.

Judge Oyindamola Ogala postponed the decision until November 8.

Following his arraignment, Ogala remanded the defendant to the Kirikiri detention facility on May 2.

Osibanjo entered a not guilty plea to the Lagos State Government’s 16-count involuntary manslaughter accusation against him.

The accused’s charges include involuntary manslaughter and serious injury caused by crashing into a moving train.

Sections 244 and 245 of the Lagos State 2015 Criminal Law are violated by the accused offences.