Death crash driver sentenced

The Seventh Minor Criminal Court yesterday sentenced an Asian garbage truck driver to two years of imprisonment after finding him guilty of causing the death of a child while “recklessly driving” in one of the villages in the Northern Governorate last week.

The 36-year-old, a truck driver for a private cleaning company, was using his phone and driving when he rammed into a Bahraini family of three, mother and two children, in Malkiya Village, sources said. As a result of the tragic accident, the four-year-old boy instantly lost his life whiles the mother and the other child, a six-year-old boy, survived with multiple injuries. In a statement issued by the Public Prosecution yesterday, Traffic Prosecution Chief Prosecutor Abdulhadi Al Asfoor said the court also ordered to suspend the defendant’s driving licence for a year in addition to the announced imprisonment sentence.

 Mr Al Asfoor also explained that the man was referred to the court after the Prosecution probed the details of the tragic incident and interrogated him. As reported last week on Tribune, the mishap occurred on Monday morning while the mother and her two children were walking on one of the alleys of Malkiya, near Hamad Town.

 The unheeding driver, who was busy using his phone, rammed into the family and mowed down the younger son, who was announced dead on the spot, according to sources. The victim was identified as Ali Al Musalli and was buried on the same day in Diraz graveyard, where a funeral ceremony was held. The driver was immediately arrested as confirmed by the security authorities.

 As the incident was reported, calls for imposing more controls on heavy vehicles’ movement inside villages and residential areas resurfaced. This came simultaneously with the repetition of similar incidents in the past few years in such areas, including several fatal accidents involving trucks and minors reported in Bani Jamrah, Sanad, Riffa and other residential areas.