![\"Ambassador](\"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ambassador-Asrat-Wolde.jpg\")
<\/a>\nA man in Harare has been charged with culpable homicide after he struck and killed Ethiopia’s former Ambassador to Zimbabwe Asrat Wolde<\/a> while staring at a group of prostitutes.<\/p>\n
Gilbert Mutandagari, 50, allegedly struck Wolde on March 1, with a Toyota Hilux at around 4.40 p.m.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors say Mutandagari was looking at prostitutes when he struck Wolde, who was walking on a pedestrian lane.<\/p>\n
The accused has denied the allegations, arguing that he was driving diligently when the victim appeared from nowhere.<\/p>\n
“The deceased, who appeared lost, suddenly crossed the road in front of my vehicle and was hit by the front headlamp and fell,” Mutandagari said.<\/p>\n
However, according to a chief witness, Mutandagari was gazing at prostitutes who had lined the street when the accident occurred.<\/p>\n
“I saw a pedestrian walking on the left edge of the road going north. He was alone with a leather backpack,” chief witness Douglas Chipiringu said. “There were a number of girls, about six to seven, on the left side of the road – some seated and some standing.”<\/p>\n
“The motorist, Mutandagari was driving looking at the girls and his vehicle went diagonally, hitting the man,” he added. “The next thing I heard was the bang of his car hitting the pedestrian.”<\/p>\n
According to local reports, Wolde sustained several head injuries after being struck. He was rushed to the Parirenyatwa Group Hospital where he died.<\/p>\n
Mutandagari has pleaded not guilty to homicide charges. He was released on a $100 bail.<\/p>\n
Wolde had been living in Zimbabwe as a refugee since the 1990s. The former ambassador is the uncle of exiled Ethiopian ruler Mengistu Hailemariam.<\/p>\n
Wolde was reportedly fired in 1991<\/a> for hosting his deposed nephew in the Ethiopian embassy.<\/p>\n Mengistu, who ruled Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991, is described as a dictator. He fled Ethiopia just before opposition forces seized Addis Ababa in May 1991.<\/p>\n Before he fled to Zimbabwe, Mengistu had reportedly sent his wife and three children to the country to live with Wolde.<\/p>\n Mengistu still lives in Harare. In 2006, an Ethiopian court found him guilty of genocide in absentia.<\/p>\n Photo\/goolgule.com<\/p>\n A man in Harare has been charged with culpable homicide after he struck and killed Ethiopia’s former Ambassador to Zimbabwe Asrat Wolde while staring at a group of prostitutes. Gilbert Mutandagari, 50, allegedly struck Wolde on March 1, with…<\/span> Read more ›<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[44,2860,1],"tags":[4838,4841,4967,4839,4840,729],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10374"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10374"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10383,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10374\/revisions\/10383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}