A PINETOWN grandmother was allegedly assaulted when attempting to collect insurance details after an accident at the intersection of Church Road and School Road on Sunday, 24 April.
According to Barbie Geyer, a 52-year-old woman, the incident happened at about 4pm after she swerved out of the way to avoid a collision with a driver, whom she said was not paying attention to the road. “The other woman was slowly moving over into my lane and would have smashed into me, so I quickly turned into Church Lane to avoid that accident, but a bakkie pulled up to the stop sign and I crashed into him,” said Geyer.
According to photos taken by Geyer, the damage to the bakkie was on the front bumper and along the side of the vehicle. The damage to her car was extensive and will cost her R15 000 to repair. “At first I called my nephew, Duanne Du Toit, as I had no idea what might have happened to my car and I may have needed help. The other driver then approached my car and from the get-go he was angry.”
“As we were walking to his car, I apologised for the accident and acknowledged that it was my fault and told him that I would pay for the damages and that we should exchange details for insurance purposes,” said Geyer.
She noted they took photos of his car and then he asked her for her details. “We walked back to my car so that I could get my ID book, then he made a fist and told me that he should ‘kick me like a dog’. I didn’t say anything. I was all alone and I feared for my safety, so I just kept quiet,” said Geyer.
She alleges the driver also told passers-by that she was ‘rubbish’. “We were standing close together and he still had his hand in a fist. He then opened it into a flat palm and slapped me across my nose,” said Geyer. Feeling that she had been cooperative to that point, she refused to give him any more information until her nephew arrived. “He started swearing at my nephew when he said he would call the police to report the assault. My nephew tried to take the keys out of the man’s ignition so he couldn’t drive away before the police arrived. He started yelling ‘Help me, help me’ as if we were attacking him and when a man on a scooter stopped to see what was going on, he started his car and sped off,” said Geyer.
Geyer opened a case of assault at the Pinetown Police Station.
