Owner of the killer bus. Photo/kbctv.co.ke
The owner of the bus that caused the death of twenty passengers near Gilgil town was on Monday arrested and charged in a Naivasha court.
Humpery Mulino appeared before Zainabu Abdul, the Deputy Registrar of the High Court in Naivasha where he denied the two charges against him.
The first charge stated that on the 13th May 2017 at 2:30 am and along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, he allowed his bus KCB 992C to operate on the road while been defective.
The second charge stated that on the same day, the bus operated on the said road without a valid license which is against the NTSA act.
Through lawyer George Okatch, the accused called on the court for a reasonable bail terms arguing that he had co-operated with the police.
Okwatch told the court that soon after the accident, his client presented himself to the police terming him as a law binding citizen who would not abstain from court proceedings.
“We humbly apply to the court to set a reasonable cash bond for my client as since the accident occurred he has fully co-operated with the police,” he said.
The State Counsel Mwende Kavindu said that she was not opposed to the accused been released on bail as the case proceeded.
In her ruling, the registrar rejected the application for the accused to be released on cash bail but set the bond at Sh1m and a surety of the same amount.
The accident occurred after the bus which plies Githurai route rammed into an incoming trailer killing eighteen people on the spot.
Two others died while undergoing treatment at the nearby St Mary’s mission as the driver and the conductor fled from the scene.
Among those who were killed in the accident were three sisters while a family of four escaped the grisly with minor injuries.