On Friday, 14
December 2012, a friend and I went for coffee at Seattle Coffee in Menlyn
Shopping Centre. My friend’s name is Jonathan David Dunbar Thorogood (hereafter
referred to as Jonathan). At approximately 22:00 we left the Shopping Centre
and entered Atterbury Road to get onto the N1 North. It was raining heavily and
traffic stopped on the N1 onramp. I halted behind a Silver Volkswagen Polo. The Silver Polo was driven by Pheaha Godfrey
Maloba (hereafter referred to as Godfrey). There were three or four cars in front
of the Polo. All the cars were stopping because of the traffic flow and rain. At
approximately 22:15 a Hilux drove into my rear, which caused my car to plough
into the Silver Polo in front of me. The driver of the Hilux was later
identified as John and the passenger in the Hilux is
John’s wife/spouse, Daleen.
The Hilux then
reversed, went over the right curb and drove past myself and the Polo. I then
passed the Polo in pursuit of the bakkie. Jonathan
identified the bakkie as a blue Toyota Hilux. The
Hilux was weaving from lane to lane and speeding, almost driving into me as I
got next to them to show him to pull him over. The Polo followed me and we
attempted to slow the Hilux’s driver down, and pull him over. All three
vehicles involved in the accident then pulled over just past the Pretoria/N4
off-ramp, about 5km from the accident scene. Godfrey and I got out of our vehicles, and as we were walking
towards the Hilux, the driver sped off. The Polo was right behind the Hilux,
and I pursued the two vehicles. We were all travelling on the N1 North. My
vehicle was unsteady and pulling to the left.
At the
Zambezi turn-off the Hilux left the N1 freeway in the direction of the toll
gates. He was driving in the right-hand lane (the fast lane) on the highway and
then suddenly turned off on the Zambezi off-ramp. The Polo drove in front of
the Hilux and then slowed him down until he was forced to stop, about 50 meters
before the tollgates. I stopped right behind the Hilux and blocked him from the
back. Godfrey opened the Hilux’s
door and removed the keys from the ignition. We all got out of our vehicles and
as John got out he was stumbling and
smelled of alcohol. His speech was slurred and he did not realise what was
going on. He was questioning us in respect of forcing him to stop. When my
friend told him to look at the damage on the Camry that he caused and failing
to stop after an accident, he went to the back of my car. He returned to the Hilux
and lit a cigarette. We phoned the
police and waited on their arrival. It was clear that he was very drunk, not
realising what was going on. Daleen
pleaded that we must not inform the police, and that they would take care of
the damages.
I walked to
the security office at the tollgate and requested the personnel to call the
Metro Police. About an hour later the Metro Police arrived at the same time as
the lawyer of John. We were requested
by the police to go to the Sinnoville Police Station. John van Niekerk was taken to hospital to have his blood-alcohol
levels tested. Godfrey and I filled
out the Accident report AR127/12/2012, and received our case number CAS250/12/2012
relating to the drunken driving charge. At the Police station Daleen said that John is a mechanic and will fix my car, as they did not have
insurance.
At the time
of the accident it was dark but Atterbury road and the N1 was well lit. It was
raining and the tarmac was wet. The visibility was good. My vehicle was in a roadworthy
condition and all the lights were working. The damage to the back of my vehicle
which was caused by the Hilux is serious and I suspect that the chassis is
bent. The Hilux missed my tow-bar and damage to the boot is serious. The front
left bumper, fender and light are also broken from bumping into the VW Polo. The
Hilux was damaged front centre and on our way to Sinnoville Police I noticed
that the Hilux overheated.
