34-year old Benjamin Anum, a taxi driver, was last week fined one million cedis for dangerous driving and failing to renew his driver's licence. If he defaults on the payment, he will be given ten months imprisonment with hard labour.
A Circuit Court presided over by Imoru Ziblim in Accra found Anum guilty on his own plea to both counts; dangerous driving and failing to renew his driver's license.
Prosecuting the case, Inspector Emmanuel Tawiah Boison told the court that on February 1st, Anum was driving from Nkrumah Circle towards Danquah Circle in an Opel taxi cab with registration number GR5229D and he failed to stop at a red traffic light.
A policeman at the Sankara Interchange who was directing the traffic immediately arrested him and handed him over to the Cantonments police. A search into Anum's documents revealed that he had failed to renew his expired licence.
Anum, in a plea for mercy, explained that a car ahead of him confused him as he diverted into the outer lane and it was impossible for him to stop. He further explained that the car which he was driving had developed a mechanical fault and was repaired just a few days later so he had no money to renew his licence. But his plea for forgiveness was not taken into account and he was asked to pay the money or go to jail.
