VANDERBIJLPARK. – A Vaal University of Technology (VUT) bash ended in tragedy after a speeding motorist in a Chev-bakkie caused the death of two students and seriously injured another three.
Four of the victims were hit in front of the VUT residences’ gate in SE 6. The bash started on Friday night, April 1. The accident happened on Saturday morning at about 02:00.
The leg of a victims was torn off by the impact. Allegedly a fifth victim was clinging to the windscreen wipers of the bakkie while the driver sped away. When the student was unable to hold on any longer, he let go and slid down the bonnet of the speeding bakkie, which drove over him. He was apparently dragged underneath the vehicle and died about 500 meters away from the scene on Andries Potgieter Boulevard.
The driver of the bakkie did not stop and just went home. Unaware that he was followed by another motorist, he locked his bakkie into his garage. The motorist who followed him waited outside the driver’s house and contacted the police.
When the police arrived at the house, they struggled for an hour to get the driver of the bakkie to let them in. Police demanded access to his garage, and this was where they found the bakkie covered in blood. The driver of the bakkie was unable to explain to the police where the blood came from.
The deceased are Thabo Kgomongo, and Silence Mashile from Jan Furs, Limpopo Province. One of the deceased was in his last year at VUT. One of the injured victim, is Shadrack Lebogo, is from Germiston. The names of the others are unknown.
The angry president of the VUT SRC, Troy Mathebula said they have since appealed for speed humps to be erected. “We are going to write a letter to the office of the Gauteng MEC for Public Safety to apply for speed humps,” he said.
The university management and SRC conveyed their heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and friends and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Gertrude Makhale said the driver of the bakkie was arrested and taken to the nearest government hospital for a blood test.
He is facing charges of hit and run, culpable homicide and drunk driving.
The suspect briefly appeared in the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
