Dompoase accident driver jailed 5 years for manslaughter

Mireku, who was driving a Hyundai bus with registration number GN 3780-10 on January 14, 2020, attempted to overtake another vehicle but collided with an oncoming bus, killing 34 people at Dompoase.

The driver in the accident that claimed 34 lives at Dompoase junction in the Central Region early this year, was yesterday sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Cape Coast High Court.
The convict, Mark Mireku, 45, had earlier on Monday, June 8,been given a year’s jail term by a Circuit Court in Cape Coast on 34 accounts of dangerous driving and negligently causing harm after pleading guilty.
The Circuit Court which banned him from operating as a commercial driver for life and also fined him GH17,280.00 or in default serve two years in addition.
The Attorney General’s office in Cape Coast, led by the State Attorney, Mrs. Joyce Odame, prayed for a higher sentence.
Passing sentence, Justice Kwasi Dapaah told the convict whose demeanor was sober, that; “your one mistake caused the lives of 34 people.”

Background
Mireku, who was driving a Hyundai bus with registration number, GN 3780-10 on January 34,2020, attempted to overtake another vehicle but collided with an oncoming bus, killing 34 people at Dompoase.
The deceased include 20 male adults, 11 female adults and three children two of whom are females and a male.
He was first arraigned at a Cape Coast Magistrate Court when he was discharged from the hospital on January 17.
However, his counsel, Mr. John Benson, raised an objection that the magistrate court had no jurisdiction to handle the case.
The court, therefore, discharged Mireku, but he was immediately re-arrested and brought before the Circuit Court presided over by Mrs. Dorinda Arthur Smith.