The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo and Sandra Tekere Sunday News Reporters—
AN elderly woman and her granddaughter died in a horrendous accident when they were struck by an uncontrolled trailer that had disengaged from a moving vehicle before hitting them and sending some body parts onto the tarmac along Nketa Drive in Bulawayo on Friday evening. Sineta Agnes Ncube (71) who was in the company of her 13-year-old granddaughter, Loretta Ncube were struck by a trailer of a South Africa-registered Toyota Quantum just after crossing Nketa Drive on their way home from Mpopoma high-density suburb.
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The now deceased and her granddaughter lived in Mabuthweni, a high-density suburb adjacent to Mpopoma. Loretta was a Form One pupil at Njube High School.
A vendor who sells her wares by the roadside said the two were hit by the trailer, which sent the young girl sprawling and crashing on the tarmac while it struck her grandmother and trapped her body in a nearby drainage.“I was looking at the other side and suddenly heard a loud bang and when I checked I saw a young girl sprawling by the roadside while a trailer had hit a sign post and lodged into the drainage,” said the vendor who preferred to be identified as MaKhumalo.
She said as they rushed to the scene of the accident in the company of other residents living close to the road they saw a disembodied head on the tarmac and later found out that its body was trapped underneath the trailer. The driver of the vehicle is said to have driven for about two kilometres without noticing that the trailer had hitched off and struck the two pedestrians.
When Sunday News visited the bereaved family at their home in Mabuthweni the now deceased’s grandson, Mr Moses Moyo detailed the horrendous ordeal he went through as police officers who attended the scene allegedly made him to pick his grandmother’s head and pieces of flesh and place them into a metal coffin.
“When I arrived at the scene, a huge crowd had gathered around and some police officers were recording details of what had transpired from an eye witnesses. I learnt that my younger sister was already dead and my grandmother’s head was still on the road. Upon identifying myself the police officers who were attending to the scene instructed me to pick the head and pieces of flesh into the coffin,” said Mr Moyo.
Other family members condemned the police’s actions as “disgusting” and “grossly unprofessional”. Bulawayo acting police spokesperson Abedinico Ncube confirmed the incident and warned motorists to desist from speeding especially in densely populated areas. “I confirm the incident, motorists should avoid speeding especially in suburbs they should drive cautiously in that way more lives will be saved,” he said.
