Spotlight on fatal accident involving muso Ray Phiri

POLICE are investigating a case of culpable homicide after an accident involving music veteran Ray Phiri that left one pedestrian dead and another seriously injured.

Speaking to TMG Entertainment yesterday, police confirmed that the Stimela musician was travelling near the N4 in Middleburg‚ Mpumalanga last Sunday when the car he was travelling in hit two pedestrians.

One of the pedestrians was declared dead on the scene and the other was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

Phiri was apparently travelling to Mbombela from Johannesburg at the time.

“There is an investigation into the matter to establish what occurred and who is in the wrong, as well as whether there were any witnesses to the incident and whether the correct road markings were observed by all parties‚” said spokesman Joseph Mabuza.

Mabuza said that a charge of culpable homicide was being investigated.

Opening up about the accident‚ Phiri said it had left him feeling “saddened and heartbroken”.

“It is terrible that this has happened and I don’t feel good about it at all.

“There should at least have been road signs to indicate a pedestrian crossing so motorists can drive more carefully‚ but there were none‚” he told Daily Sun.

This is not the first time a fatal car accident has haunted the music legend. In 2003‚ he was involved in a car accident near Barberton‚ Mpumalanga that took the life of his first wife Daphney.

According to a Sunday World report‚ the star was recently remarried in a secret ceremony in Venda. — TMG Digital