ALBERTON – Fleeing a scene of an accident is a criminal offence. If for some reason you are afraid to stop, you go to the nearest police station and report the accident immediately.
Last year I was riding my bicycle in the yellow line when I was hit from behind and the driver didn’t stop. I had two witnesses who saw what had happened and they managed to get the registration number of the vehicle.
It was only after the police went to his house that evening that he knew that he hadn’t got away with it and reported the accident the next day.
One year later, first court date – his lawyer was sick; second court date – his lawyer was not familiar with the case; third court date – his lawyer was in Umtata and fourth court date – he wanted to postpone as he had an appointment, but this time it went to trial.
I sustained multipile injuries and was bedridden for six weeks with a broken ankle, fractured pelvis and a grade three spondylolisthesis. I have never experienced pain like that in my life.
My husband suffered a heart attack as a result of seeing me nearly killed as he was riding behind me. He had to carry me around for six weeks with a heavy cast on my foot.
He had to have a stent inserted and now has to take medication for the rest of his life. My parents, who are over 80 years old, had to come and look after me during the day while my husband was at work.
I am still having treatment and don’t know how long this is going to go on for, at great expense and inconvenience.
My bike and everything I had with me on that day is either broken or destroyed. Riding my bike was an absolute pleasure for me and I used to ride six days a week, weather permitting. Now that has been taken away from me. I sometimes used to ride up to 1 000km a month in summer.
I will now be going into old age with many aches and pains, all due to the bad driving of a certain man.
The verdict was not guilty.
Frustrated and disappointed with the legal system
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