Jan. 2 (UPI) — The driver of the vehicle that crashed in Nigeria, injuring British boxer Anthony Joshua and killing two of his companions, was speeding and did not have a valid driver’s license, local authorities said.
Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, 46, is charged with reckless driving causing death, “driving without due care and attention, causing bodily harm and damage to property” and not having a valid driver’s license.
The charges were filed in the Sagamu Magistrate Court, according to the Ogun State Police Command.
Kayode was arraigned on Friday and was being detained until could post a $3,500 bond.
Kayode is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 20 for the charges arising from the Monday morning accident with a stopped truck that injured Joshua and killed his personal trainer, Latif Ayodele, and his strength coach, Sina Ghami.
Ayodele and Ghami were pronounced dead at the scene, and Joshua was hospitalized with minor bruising. Reports do not indicate whether Kayode also was injured.
Kayode was driving a Lexus SUV when it collided with a truck at 11 a.m. local time while traveling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that connects Lagos and Ogun State.
Joshua is a former two-time world heavyweight champion and suffered minor bruising that led to his brief hospitalization in Nigeria, from which he was released on Wednesday.
Joshua, 36, was born in Britain and has family in Sagamu, Nigeria. His mother joined him while he visited a Lagos funeral home to pay their respects to Ghami and Ayodele.
Joshua was visiting Nigeria during the holidays after beating Jake Paul in a Dec. 19 boxing match.
He has amassed a professional boxing record of 29-4, with 26 knockouts, and first won the IBF title in 2016 and added the WBA and WBO titles before losing to Anthony Ruiz Jr. on June 1, 2019.
He regained the unified titles by beating Ruiz on Dec. 17, 2019, but eventually lost them to Oleksandr Usyk on Sept. 25, 2021.
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