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.
