A Toyota LandCruiser double cabin vehicle belonging to the SPLM party knocked a nursery school pupil dead in Torit town, Eastern Equatoria State, on Thursday.
The deceased, David Onen Paul, 9, of the African Inland Church nursery and primary school was going back home after classes when the accident happened.
Witnesses said the SPLM vehicle, which was being driven by Charles Osuru Abaha, was speeding.
The Eastern Equatoria State traffic crime officer, Lt Adam Satiro, told Radio Tamazuj, “Around 11 am on Thursday, an accident occurred near city club where a vehicle crushed a child. I went to the scene and confirmed that the child was dead. We took the body to the hospital and later home.”
He added, “It was a very bad accident. The driver was carrying items from the Naivasha residential area and was at a high speed because what we confirmed at the scene is that there were long break marks and the child died on spot.”
Lt. Satiro confirmed that the car belongs to the SPLM party and was driven by a government employee who is currently in police custody. He advised drivers to slow down in busy areas like markets, schools, hospitals, and places of worship to avoid accidents.
The state minister of information and government spokesperson, Patrick Oting Cyprian, described the incident as unfortunate and said the driver is in police custody under investigation.
“As a government, we went to the home of the late, we went to pay our condolences and we also encouraged the family because in such situations we have to join our hands together and to mourn together,” Minister Oting said. “We have lost one of our dear children today (Thursday) in Torit. The vehicle is for SPLM and the driver was doing some work for one of the members of the party but an accident happened at that time when that vehicle was on duty.”