At the mosque there are five prayer sessions per day and on Monday, April 28 at the late afternoon session at 17:00 an argument between Mr Qasim Muhammed (33) and the suspect, who can’t be named, erupted.
Allegedly the two men sorted out their argument outside and then they left.
Muhammed was walking across Dahlia Street towards the boarding house where he stayed.
According to witnesses, a man driving a silver Mercedes Benz, drove up Dahlia Street, did a U-turn at the top of the street, then raced down the road, hitting Muhammed off his feet.
He was pushed into the palisade gate where he fell to the ground and died.
Muhammed Saj-jad, the chef at the boarding house was standing on the inside of the gate when the incident happened. Saj-jad was seriously injured as the gate fell on top of him.
Emergency services arrived on scene and took him to Witbank Provincial Hospital, where he was later transferred to Life Cosmos Hospital.
He was treated for his injuries and is still recovering.
Mr Coenrad Jordaan, owner of the house, who arrived on scene a few minutes after the incident, was in total shock about what he saw.
“When I got there, I could not believe what had just happened as my chef was lying on the ground bleeding profusely, Qasim was dead and the driver of the car climbed out of the vehicle as if nothing was wrong,” said a shocked Jordaan.
Jordaan said he spoke to the passenger who was inside the vehicle with the suspect. According to Jordaan all the passenger said to the driver was: “Please stop, please stop,” as they went speeding down the road. “The driver did not show any remorse or any emotion as he stood there on scene, between a dead man and one that was bleeding profusely,” said Jordaan.
He was taken into police custody and cases of murder and attempted murder have been opened against him.
The suspect will appear in court on Friday, May 2 for his first appearance. “Qasim was a calm and collected person, very friendly,” said Jordaan.
After the postmortem that took place on Tuesday, April 29, his body would be sent back to his family in Pakistan. “He was a wonderful man, very friendly. He leaves behind a wife and children,” said a close friend.
So that’s religion for you!
It saddens me to think that someone would condemn a religion due to one persons uncouth and disgraceful behaviour. No matter what religion you belong to it does not teach us to commit sin. The victim did not come to South Africa for leisure purposes but to support his family as well as to utilise his skills as our South African Citizens are too lazy to work for what they want and do not have the qualifications that some of the foreigners have. the victim was brought over to use his skills for certain jobs. The accused should not be set free. He has taken an innocent life and should be punished for his deeds. It seems nowadays in South Africa anything is possible…..if you don’t like someone then you can just freely kill that person and walk free. South Africa is now becoming the place where anything is possible. Most Foreigners are forced come to South Africa to earn a livelihood for their families but in return go back home in body bags. Where has the South African justice system gone to and why is South Africa such an easy ground for crime.