The Sunday News
Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
A GRADE Four pupil at Male Primary School in Bulilima District died last weekend after a scotch cart he was riding on overturned and crushed his body.
The 10-year-old boy, Decent Ndlovu, who stays with his mother at Male Village in Dombodema, left in a scotch cart for the shops last Sunday afternoon without telling his parents.
Decent proceeded to the shops to search for his uncle and after he could not locate him, drove the scotch cart back home.
A police source who requested anonymity said onlookers who saw Decent pass by the shops revealed that the boy was riding the scotch cart which was being drawn by donkeys at high speed.
He said while the boy was on his way back home, one of the scotch cart wheels hit a tree stump causing the it to overturn.
He said onlookers said Decent was thrown out of the scotch cart and his body got trapped underneath.
The councillor for the area, Mr Benjamin Nleya, who arrived at the scene after the incident, said they found Decent lying face down on the ground and half of his body from the legs up to the waist was beneath the scotch cart which had overturned.
“When we found the boy, he was already lifeless. Half of his body was under the scotch cart and the weight of the scotch cart was pressing down on his waist. That is when we alerted the police and the boy’s relatives and the boy’s body was removed from the scene. It appears that his spinal cord was seriously damaged at the time when the scotch cart crushed his body,” said Clr Nleya.
He said he received a report of the incident from people who were close when the scotch cart overturned.
Clr Nleya said the boy was reported to have been travelling alone and at high speed when the incident occurred which was a dangerous thing for someone of his age.
He said his family revealed that they were not aware that their late son had taken the scotch cart as they had advised him against riding in it without supervision of an elderly person.
He said funeral arrangements had not yet been finalised.
