Cape Town - Milnerton police are investigating a case of culpable homicide after an alleged lovers’ quarrel left two people dead.
The City’s Fire and Rescue Service was alerted yesterday of pedestrians who were run over by a motor vehicle in Summer Greens Drive, Summer Greens, on Sunday.
Spokesperson for the Fire and Rescue Service, Jermaine Carelse, said the crew from Milnerton responded to the incident and found three people involved.
“An adult male was deceased, an adult female required urgent medical attention and hospitalisation, and another adult male had sustained minor injuries. The female patient was transported by ER24 ambulance to a nearby hospital and the South African Police Service took over the scene just after 5pm,” said Carelse.
Xola Qetsemani, who was an eyewitness to the incident, said it was a horrific scene to witness as the driver of the vehicle seemed to not care about anyone else.
“I was walking to the shop near the main road when all of a sudden I heard a car speed up and hit these two people. One of them flew a couple metres into the air from where they were initially, and I saw the lady also fly up and land near where they were hit on the embankment.
“After that, I saw the car drive away. While everyone was still in shock and panicking, we heard the car speed back up to run over the guy, whose body was half on the road and half on the pavement. When he got knocked over again, I couldn’t hear him cry in pain anymore. As the driver of the car struggled to get control of the car, the driver went back to driving over the lady again.
“I often closed my eyes because it was a traumatic scene to witness. I tried to get closer, I tried to phone the police, but I couldn't get through to the police,” said Qetsemani.
Chairperson of the Summer Greens Ratepayers’ Association, Bridgette Lloyd, said it was a very tragic day for the community as the driver of the car intentionally wanted to kill the victims involved, harming other residents who were nearby.
“According to witnesses, it was a love triangle that led the driver to target the gentleman and the lady, because he intentionally wanted to make sure that they had died after he made a u-turn and came back to finish them off. The man, unfortunately, passed away, and this morning I was informed that the lady had passed away as well.
“To top it off, when residents tried to help, one resident got knocked over while trying to help the lady who was crying for help, and a child, who we do not know for sure if it was the child of the victims or one of the residents, was also knocked over, and both bystanders are recovering in hospital.
“Our community was in an uproar yesterday as once they got their hands on the perpetrator, he was found under the influence of alcohol and community members beat him, but I had to step in and I couldn't let them kill him as it wouldn't make the issue right. Going forward, the community is working to gather residents to see how we could better our community and prevent such incidents from happening again,” said Lloyd.
Western Cape police spokesperson Warrant OfficerJoseph Swartbooi said Milnerton police are investigating a case of culpable homicide, but no one has been charged yet.