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Bernadine Kruger’s accused ‘taxi-murderer’ in court

 

Three witnesses testified that the Afrikaans pupil on her scooter was followed across two empty lanes, with the high-speed, honking taxi-driver hot on her heels, apparently intent on ‘wanting to force her off the road’…


KrugerBernadineKilledByTaxidriverAccusedMercyvalMatjiInCourtBeeldPicCornelVanHeerdenaug142009This is a picture (by Beeld photogrpaher Cornél van Heerden)  of the accused taxi-driver Percyval Matji, 31, at Pretoria Regional Court. He has denied culpible homicide and reckless driving charges in the traffic-death of 15-year-old Afrikaans pupil Bernadine Kruger in Pretoria on 23 February 2009..

The Garsfontein High School pupil was enroute to her school with her scooter on a practically empty eastbound dual-carriageway, witnesses testified, when she was run down by the ‘high-speed, aggressively-honking’ taxi-driver, identified as having been Matji. These witnesses were in the crowded west-bound lane, moving very slowly in the morning-hour rush houron the dual-carriageway at 7am.

Beeld journalist Herman Scholtz reports that one of the witnesses, Mrs René van Zyl, testified in the Pretoria Regional Court on August 13 2009 that she and her 11-year-old daughter saw ‘Bernadine flying through the air” while slowly moving in the rush-hour traffic. Her daughter watched the event unfold and shouted ‘the taxi doesn’t stop,’ testified Mrs Van Zyl, who said her daughter also screamed: ‘He’s going to hit her, he’s going to hit her..’ as she saw the schoolgirl fly throught the air for several metres, and getting hit by the taxi after she fell on the tarmac.

Other witnesses, Hugo Vermaak and Mrs Sanet Venter, also testified, as did Mrs van Zyl, that the taxi-driver was ‘honking his horn loudly, constantly and aggressively as he was approaching the girl on her schooter from behind at high speed. They all saw the taxi hitting the girl in the adjacent east-bound lane while the three witnesses were moving very slowly, stuck in a traffic jam going in westerly direction. All testified that the east-bound lane was clear, with no other traffic next to the  taxi and Bernadine’s scooter going in the same direction.

He hit her scooter at such a high speed that Bernadine  flew several metres through the air – and then he ran over her

Kruger Bernadinedeliberately run over by black taxi driver who laughed as he drove off Picture: Bernadine Kruger, who was killed by a high-speed taxi-driver while riding to school on her scooter on an near-empty eastbound dual-carriageway in Pretoria on her scooter. Three witnesses have now testified about the taxi-driver’s aggressive behaviour.

The accused driver, Matji, had approached the girl on the scooter at high speed and did not slow down. She tried to move over to the left lane but the taxi then hit her at such high speed that she flew through the air and fell several metres further in the roadway – at which point the same taxi-driver then drove right over the stricken girl. She died on the scene. The witness Vermaak testified that the taxi-driver ‘continued to drive a long distance’ before finally coming to a stop, and driving back to the accident scene.

When asked whether there was any good reason for the taxi-driver to honk his horn so persistently, Vermaak replied that ‘Bernadine was first riding in the left lane with the honking taxi right on her bumper. She then turned on her flashing lights and moved to the right lane but the taxi followed her there, honking hard.’ Vermaak said there were no other commuters on the double-lane roadway near the taxi and the girl on the scooter.

“It just looked as if he wanted to force her off the road altogether,’ said Vermaak.

All three eye witnesses testified that Matji could easily have avoided the accident by applying the brakes, i.e. by slowing down -- or by simply moving over to the unoccupied left lane.

During cross-examination by defence advocate Rendani Mufumadi, Matji claiimed that ‘Bernadine had pulled in front of him and that he honked the horn ‘when he realised her timing wasn’t perfect, and that he then ran her down accidentially’.

The defence advocate also implied that Mr Vermaak ‘hated taxi-drivers’.:“I put it to you that you have hidden motives, that’s why you are testifiying…’  However, public prosecutor advocate Sanet van Rensburg’s objection to this accusation was upheld by regional magistrate Edmund Patterson.

Bernadine’s mom Mrs  Elsabé Homan wept bitterly while listening to the testimony describing her daughter’s last moments on earth, Beeld reported. The case was postponed to next week. http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2547632,00.html

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