One-year-old dies after mom accidentally drives over her

AN UMLAZI, Durban, mother is in shock after she accidentally ran over and killed her 1-year-old daughter.

As the family made preparations for Amile’s funeral today, the child’s mother, Sithembile Khanyile, was still struggling to come to ter ms with her daughter’s death.

On Monday morning as Khanyile, an eThekwini Municipality employee, was reversing out of her driveway she hit the toddler. She did not see the little girl and only realised what had happened after she had backed onto the road.

The child sustained a severe head injury.

“The child was certified dead at the scene and a case of culpable homicide was opened,” said KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker.

Traumatised neighbours said Khanyile’s screams alerted them to the incident.

A neighbour said the sight of Amile lying lifeless in the driveway will always haunt her.

“The mother hasn’t stopped crying since the incident. She recently got married and had the child and for something like this to happen to her is just beyond sad,” said a neighbour, who asked not to be named.

This is not the first recent incident where a parent has accidentally run over their child.

In February, a 1-year-old boy died after he was run over by his parent’s vehicle in their driveway in Constantia, Cape Town.

In 2013, a Free State mother accidentally killed her 15month-old daughter by knocking her over with her car in the family’s driveway.

In the same year, another Free State toddler died after her dad accidentally reversed over her with his bakkie.