A student from New Zealand who was the driver of a car that crashed in Kenya almost two weeks ago, killing three New Zealand residents and a Kenyan driver, has formally apologized for the incident.
18 year old David Fellows, a former student of Tauranga Christian College in New Zeland, was driving a minibus when it crashed, killing anaesthetist Dr. Brian Johnston, his wife Grace and a former student of Bethlehem College, Caitlin Dickson. The three victims were part of a group of 19 volunteers from Bethlehem College, who were on a mission trip to Kenya where they were building classrooms for a school in a rural Kenyan village
The mission group had hired a Kenyan driver, Christopher Mmata, to drive the minibus. Mmata was also killed in the crash. Bethlehem College authorities yesterday revealed that it was in fact David Fellows that was driving the bus at the time of the crash, and not Mmata as was previously thought. Fellows was initially told to keep quiet about the switch by the Bethlehem College representative in Kenya.
Chairman of the Bethlehem College Board, Greg Hollister-Jones, said that the board has commissioned an independent investigation into the accident. According to Hollister-Jones, the agreement was that the local driver would be providing all of the transport during the trip, and an investigation will be conducted into why Fellows was driving. It appears that Fellows was asked to drive a short section of their journey, and no passengers were concerned about the arrangement as he holds a valid New Zealand driving license.
Bethlehem College principal Eoin Crosbie has said that David is bearing a ‘terrible burden’ for the deaths, and has apologized to the victim’s families. David also apologized to the Mmata family, who initially thought that Christopher was responsible for the accident.
David came forward after the funeral services for the Johnstons’ about the switch, and the information was confirmed by authorities on Sunday. Mr Fellows was not seriously injured in the accident, and returned back to New Zealand last week. Other members of the mission team will be arriving home this week, said Mr. Crosbie.
According to Tauranga officials, the accident occurred when Mr. Fellows lost control of the mini bus, rolling into a ditch on the highway between Nairobi and Murang on Saturday. There were 16 people on board the bus at the time. The results of the investigation into the incident are expected to take several weeks.