Pongola crash: Truck driver convicted on 20 counts of murder
Sibusiso Siyaya is expected to be sentenced today after he was convicted yesterday. He drove the truck that ploughed into a bakkie in 2022.
The driver of the truck that ploughed into a bakkie carrying 20 occupants on the N2 near Pongola in 2022 was yesterday convicted on 20 counts of murder.
He is due to be sentenced today.
The KZN High Court, sitting in Pongola, included reckless and negligent driving, as well as failure to perform duties of a driver after an accident, in Sibusiso Siyaya’s convictions.
After the accident, which occurred on a Friday afternoon in September 2022, it was revealed that Siyaya had been involved in a truck blockade on the N2 earlier in the day and was fleeing the police at the time of the incident.
The bakkie into which the truck ploughed was transporting 18 schoolchildren and one teacher home from school. The driver of the bakkie was also killed.
The crash led the Pongola community to enforce a truck ban on that section of the N2, which lasted some months before an agreement was reached that truck drivers would adhere to certain conditions.
Video:
The death toll in the horror crash on the N2 highway in northern KwaZulu-Natal has risen to 21. 19 of the deceased are children, aged between 5 and 12 years. The accident happened near Pongola in the eMakhalathini area. #DStv403 #eNCA pic.twitter.com/DdTzZiDR7p
— eNCA (@eNCA) September 16, 2022
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