Runaway driver caught

By ZACHERY PER
A BUS driver on the run for more than three months after killing a university student and injuring another as well as two passengers was arrested and charged in Goroka.
Police traffic investigators arrested driver Petrus Tonny, 41, from Kofoiufa village in Goroka, Western Highlands, last Thursday.
He will appear before the Goroka District Court today.
Tonny was arrested and charged with four counts of dangerous driving causing death, injuries and colliding with another vehicle while being an unlicensed driver driving an unregistered vehicle.
The accident occurred at Ipeipei Bridge on the Highlands Highway between the Goroka Funeral Home and Okiyufa Primary School at around 8.45am on May 16.
Final-year students Charlotte Koni and Faith Moses, who were standing on the side of the road, were hit while passengers Kere Javiro and Mary Titus, in the defendant’s bus, sustained broken arms.
They were admitted to Goroka Hospital with Moses and were later discharged from the hospital while Koni died at the scene of the accident.
Eastern Highlands police commander Supt Michael Welly warned all drivers to renew their driving licenses and public motor vehicle (PMV) trucks and bus owners needed to ensure their vehicles were registered and insured before putting them on the road.
He said innocent lives had been lost because vehicle owners were not ensuring that their vehicles were roadworthy and their drivers were responsible.
Tonny is facing four charges of driving without a valid licence and driving a non-roadworthy vehicle and causing death and injuries.