A 42-year-old driver of Nissan Tipper Truck with registration number AS 3457 G, has been sentenced to 27 years imprisonment for carelessly killing a man, his pregnant wife and their two-year-old daughter in an accident near Akim Odumase in the East Akim Municipality of the Eastern Region five years ago.
The driver, Albert Adu was convicted on Tuesday by a Koforidua Circuit Court presided over by Wilhemina Hammond. Albert Adu, who was driving a tipper truck fully loaded with sand, veered off his lane and ran into the couple�s car, Toyota Celica with registration number AS 5009 Y, when they were returning to Accra from a Parent-Teacher-Association (PTA) meeting at the Abuakwa State College at Kyebi where they had their ward attending school. The driver of the couple, Dennis Anderson, however, escaped death but got seriously injured.
The tipper truck driver was arraigned before court upon Attorney-General�s advice after years of the incident which occurred on March 24, 2007, when he was then 38 years old.
He pleaded guilty to five counts of careless driving and negligently causing harm to Mr. Emmanuel Otchere, 44, his wife, Georgina Otchere, 38, their daughter, Rachel Lady Otchere, two and the driver, Dennis Johnson.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Michael T. Mantey from the Eastern regional MTTU told the court that the couple with their daughter had attended a PTA meeting at Abuakwa State College at Kyebi and when they were returning to Accra, at Owura Twum village near Odumase on the Apedwa-Kyebi stretch of the road, the tipper truck, fully loaded with sand and being driven by Albert Adu, veered into their lane and as they tried to avoid it by moving to the shoulder of the road, the truck ran into their car, instantly killing the couple and their daughter on the spot.
He said the impact of the crash was such that the truck virtually sat on the car and the unborn baby was forced out of its mother�s stomach. He said all of them died on the spot with very serious injuries to their heads and bodies.
The only explanation given by the driver of the tipper truck was that he lost control and tried to avoid hitting the car but he could not.
He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for careless driving, five years on each count of negligently causing harm to each of the four occupants of the car. All the sentences were to run consecutively.
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