Key testimony in Mbombela trial for 2019 hit-and-run case

The trial for the man accused of the death of a local businesswoman, Letisia Niemann, in 2019 is ongoing in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court.

Johan Louwrens is accused of being the driver in a hit-and-run incident that left Niemann dead. It occurred outside Mustangs – The Dancing Place.

Louwrens’s most recent appearance was last Friday, September 1.

According to a previous article by Lowvelder on the incident, a friend of the couple, Jacques Kotze, said a group of friends had been having a braai at the Niemanns’ house on Saturday September 28, 2019. He said the couple lived on the same premises as their company, Quality Sandblasting and Powder Coating, right next to Mustangs.

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Afterwards, the group had a drink at the bar, where an event had been taking place.

Letisia and Eben Niemann had been walking home when she was hit by a bakkie. The incident occurred outside the entrance to the club at 23:00.

The vehicle sped off. Hours later, she died of her injuries in hospital. Louwrens handed himself over to the police two days later.

Albert Gryvenstein, the director of Bossies Community Justice and AG Solutions, who was involved in locating Louwrens after the incident, testified on Friday.

A key part of his testimony was a conversation he had overheard Louwrens have with his father at his father’s house before he handed himself over to the police. Gryvenstein testified that the father had asked his son whether he had seen he had ran someone over, to which Louwrens responded, “Yes, Dad, a blonde woman, but I was drunk.”

There was a back-and-forth dialogue between Gryvenstein and Louwrens’s council. His council said he might have heard wrong, but Gryvenstein stood by his testimony. The trial is set to continue again on September 15.