VIDEO: Hundreds of community members pay tribute to CPF stalwart, woman
A cross bearing the name of two car accident victims and several bunches of flowers are all that remain at the accident scene where a couple died in the early hours of this morning.
The vehicle they were travelling in burst into flames near the intersection of Celia Nestadt Road and Stokroos Street.
Over 100 people paid tribute to the lives of Jacques Day (24) and his partner, Jacqueline Roos (21) who died when the car they were in hit a lamppost, rolled and burst into flames.
Scores of Community Police Forum (CPF) members, most from Boksburg North, drove in procession from an NG Kerk in Impala Park.
The procession converged at the scene of the accident.
Loved ones, colleagues and friends paid tribute by laying flowers at the lamppost where the car collided and at the area where the vehicle burnt out – which was about 20m apart.
The sombre crowd formed a circle around the burnt remains of the car.
They erected a white cross with the names of the victims and had a black and white photo printed on a piece of paper which was stapled onto the cross.
Chairperson for the Sector One Boksburg North CPF (where Day was a member), Denise Curry, spoke to the audience with tears in her eyes as she praised Day for being a wonderful person.
“He was awesome, his heart was in it (the CPF),” said the emotional Curry earlier in the day.
“He was committed; nothing was ever too big or too small for him.
“His heart was in it (the CPF), he was such a good guy.”
Curry’s address was followed by a sermon given by a priest.
Day’s uncle, Danie Day, told the City Times at the scene of the accident this afternoon that the family is taking strain following the tragic news.
“I have never seen people (his parents) so broken,” said Day.
He said the family are still coming to terms with the death of their son Jaco Day, who died in a car accident on Atlas Road five years ago.
Day said he spoke to the 24-year-old’s father this morning who told him “I’m busy dying”.
“They (the parents) don’t think they are going to survive this one,” Day said.
Day described his nephew as a happy-go-lucky character who loved cars, motorbikes, boating and being involved in the church community.
The City Times has been unsuccessful in contacting Roos’s family.
