Posted by by WALE FOLARIN, Ibadan on
A middle aged man, Kolawole Ayinde, has been arraigned before a magistrate court in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, over the killing of six persons by a pedestrian bridge.
A middle aged man, Kolawole Ayinde, has been arraigned before a magistrate court in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, over the killing of six persons by a pedestrian bridge.
Ayinde was said to have caused the bridge to collapse when the tractor carrying truck with registration number Lagos AY318AAA which he drove hit the bridge causing it to cave in and fell on two vehicles.
Six persons who were in one of the cars, a Volkswagen Golf, with registration number Oyo AM 855 MAP on which the bridge fell died instantly, while six other persons in another car with registration number BU159 ABJ survived the Christmas eve tragedy.
The suspect was brought to court Tuesday on an 11-count charge which included dangerous driving, overloading, destruction of public property, and willful negligence.
He however, pleaded not guilty to the charges read to him by the police prosecutor Sergeant Sade Adebusoye.
The magistrate, Mrs. Sefiat Oyediran who granted the accused bail in the sum of N500,000 and two sureties in like sum, however, adjourned hearing till February 11, 2005.
It would be recalled that six people were killed last Thursday night in the Ibadan when a pedestrian bridge on the Ibadan-Ife expressway crashed on them.
Four of the deceased were trapped in two cars on which the bridge fell while the others were passers-by.
Witnessed said that a trailer conveying an earth-moving equipment ran into the central pillar supporting the bridge which let to the collapse.
In the ensuing confusion, the bridge crashed on a Volkswagen Golf and green Toyota Corolla.