TV news anchor Aldrin Sampear charged with assault after road rage incident (VIDEO)

Charges of assault have been laid against Newzroom Afrika anchor Aldrin Sampear following a road rage incident in Randburg earlier on Thursday.

The alleged victim, 20-year-old Johannesburg resident Laricia Augusto, said she was travelling to university on Jan Smuts Avenue at the time of the incident.

“I was in the left lane, minding my own business, and he was cruising somewhere behind me in the right. Then, as it tends to happen with Joburg traffic, a taxi up ahead slammed on brakes in front of me. So I indicated and moved over into the right lane,” she said, adding that in her judgement Sampear was far enough behind her for it to be safe. “Or so I thought.”

Aldrin Sampear ‘practically glued himself to my bumper’

Augusto said as she changed lanes in front of Sampear, he started to accelerate.

“He practically glued himself to my bumper, hooting aggressively. I had no idea what his issue was, but to avoid any drama, I moved back into the left lane to let him pass. That’s when things turned nasty.”

She alleged that, without warning, he swerved into the left-hand lane. “Nearly into my car. I veered left to avoid him, thinking it was just some reckless driving but then he did it again, this time deliberately clipping the right rear side of my car. I nearly lost control but managed to stabilise.

“As I was slowing down, he swerved sharply in front of me, cutting me off. There was no time to react and I hit him at an angle on his rear tyre.”

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Augusta said that as both parties exited their cars, Sampear came out already shouting and gesturing wildly. “He was screaming at me. I tried to defend myself, pointing out that what he did was deliberate road rage. I even told him there was more than enough space for him to have driven safely,” she said.

She gave him the middle finger

That’s when things escalated, she said.

“He grabbed my arm. I immediately started recording him. That’s when I realised this wasn’t just a fender bender and that this was something else.”

In the video, Sampear accused Augusto of flipping a middle finger at him, which she admitted to. “You can see him pointing in my face, shouting nonstop. He pushed me, grabbed me again, and hit me,” she said. “I was terrified and genuinely afraid he might seriously hurt me, but I tried not to show it. I kept as calm as I could.”

WATCH: Aldrin Sampear involved in road rage incident

Eventually, she said, he calmed down.

“I still tried to be civil, and we exchanged details. Then he announced he was leaving. He said he had a meeting and didn’t want to wait around. I called my dad, and my cousin came to assist. When he realised help was arriving, he insisted again that he had to go and just drove off.”

Sampear said there’s ‘some truth’ to the story

When contacted by The Citizen, Sampear denied that he assaulted Augusto but admitted that there “was some truth” to other aspects of the incident. He then asked The Citizen to call back. On the second call, Sampear asked for further questions in writing.

At the time of publishing, Sampear had not responded to the questions. The story will be updated once he responds.

Five years ago, Sampear admitted in the media that he had assaulted women before. He chalked it up to being provoked at the time but claimed he had since outgrown that behaviour.

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