…Police say she may go to jail for manslaughter
By Chika Otuchikere
A woman who knocked down and killed a 19 year-old primary school awaiting-result graduate along the Mabushi expressway in Abuja, was made to cough out N250,000 as compensation to the family of the deceased as well as bearing the cost of keeping the girl’s corpse in the mortuary and other burial expenses.
But the police in Abuja told Education Tell that the woman was not yet free from the arm of the law as she would be charged for the crime of manslaughter. Manslaughter is a charge against a person who did accidentally killed another person.
The incident occurred in June when the 19-year-old, Mary Ishaya, an indigene of Langtang in Plateau State, was crossing the busy Mabushi Expressway. A lady driving an Army green CRV car who works in a government establishment around Zone 5, rammed into her, killing her on the spot.
The woman was kind enough to stop her car to assist the young lady to the hospital but unfortunately the girl was killed on the spot. Passersby around Mabushi gathered at the scene of the incident and also invited policemen from the nearby Mabushi police station. The family members of the victim who were also informed also came to the scene of the accident.
While Mary’s corpse was immediately deposited at the Wuse General Hospital, the woman was detained while her car was impounded at the Mabushi police station.
An eye-witness and teacher in the school in Mabushi where Mary Ishaya had just completed her Primary six and was awaiting her result, spoke with Education Tell. She lamented that the Mabushi Expressway was notorious for accidents due to lack of a Pedestrian Bridge at such busy road.
According to her, the incidences of ‘hit and run’ by drivers was common but the woman who killed Mary decided to stop after hitting her.
“The incident happened yesterday. The girl was crossing the road when the car hit her and she died on the spot. She has finished Primary Six but yet to collect her result. The police came to the scene and arrested the woman who caused the accident.
[penci_blockquote style=”style-2″ align=”none” author=””]“The road in Mabushi, you people should speak on that. You should do something about it. You people have to say something. I see that the families of the victims are usually illiterate and so, they always settle them with money. Every day, accident is happening on that Mabushi road. It’s either they do the hit and run or some of them stop like this woman. In the afternoon they cannot escape but at night they usually don’t stop.[/penci_blockquote]
“They said they cannot keep her in the station for more than 24 hours because they have to charge to court. It is the courts that deals with such a case. But the family said they don’t want court case so they should just settle it at the police station there, which we discussed about the amount and everything.
“Yesterday, they gave them N30, 000 to embalm the corpse and they kept her in the mortuary. The balance of the N250, 000 they are yet to send so, if they see the balance, they’ll take the corpse to Langtang in Plateau State. And they say there is curfew in Langtang and they can’t go through Langtang so they have to go through Nasarawa State,” she told Education Tell.
The school teacher called on the FCT administration to do something about the lives that are regularly lost by road accident on the Mabushi road, saying that it has become a common sight to see corpses of road victims on that road.
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“The road in Mabushi, you people should speak on that. You should do something about it. You people have to say something. I see that the families of the victims are usually illiterate and so, they always settle them with money. Every day, accident is happening on that Mabushi road. It’s either they do the hit and run or some of them stop like this woman. In the afternoon they cannot escape but at night they usually don’t stop.
“ I am a classroom teacher and my school is around that Mabushi. The one that happened yesterday, I think, the driver is a Yoruba woman and she was crying, telling me that over 15 years driving she has never killed a chicken. I asked her to just keep quiet, it’s ok. At least I can speak Hausa and I can talk with the Jos people. She’s a civil servant and she’s working in Zone five.
“She said she was rushing to the office. She uses the same car with mine, CRV Army Green colour. Mary Ishaya was around 19, 20 years. She’s from a poor home. If they are not trained and she has a house girl work in Abuja, if the people are good they try to put them in school,” she said.
When Education Tell visited the Mabushi police Station, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Chief Superintendent of Police CSP Adamu confirmed the incident and said that the driver of the vehicle which killed Mary had been released from detention since she could not be detained beyond 24 hours.
He, however, disclosed that the matter had been transferred to the FCT Command headquarters for necessary actions. According to him, although the woman had compensated the family and taken responsibility for the burial of Mary, she would still be charged to court for manslaughter.