Cyclists warned against riding without lights

Elmina, Sept. 7, GNA - Mr Kwame Ohene-Essel, who presides over the district court at Elmina, on Friday issued a warning to cyclists who are in the habit of riding in the night without their lights on.

Mr Ohene- Essel, gave the warning, when a 42-year-old driver was brought before him for knocking down a cyclist who had committed such an offence, in the night of March 13 this year.

He warned that any such cyclist brought before him would be drastically dealt with and told the prosecution that it should rather have charged the cyclist and not the driver.

The driver, David Essel, pleaded guilty with explanation, to negligently causing harm, and explained that the accident had occurred because he had not seen the bicycle in time, to avoid hitting it, as it did not have its light on.

The court, therefore, entered a plea of not guilty for him, and granted him five million cedis bail to re-appear on Tuesday, September 9.

The case for the prosecution was that Essel, who drives a commercial vehicle, was conveying passengers from Cape Coast to Takoradi, when he accidentally knocked down Atta Panyin, who was riding a bicycle without its lights on, at Dompoase junction, near Komenda.

It said Panyin, sustained a fracture in his left thigh as well as other injuries, and was rushed to the Central Regional hospital where he was on admission for sometime.