Still waiting for justice for Bianca
Police investigation delays
THE SAPS investigative system is a torment to my mind, body and soul, and a spear through my heart in that I have a notion that the current investigation into my daughter’s (Bianca Harper Agherdien’s) horrific death following an accident on the N2 between Grahamstown and Nelson Mandela Bay in November will whittle away into years of waiting for justice to be forthcoming, or none at all.
At the Paterson hamlet police station, police handle many serious accident cases – this I have deduced from a very helpful warrant officer there, while I waited for hours to check on progress with the detective sergeant investigating the case. I visited there one morning in April, arriving without an appointment and unannounced.
With the Olifantskop Pass right on their doorstep in their precinct of policing, a vast area straddling a good 100 km or more radius around their local police station is the reality.
Six months have passed and the only progress on the accident case is a very thick file of a police docket that can easily be lost. I have made numerous calls to the police station, detectives and senior detectives, with statements from the driver of the BMW involved and other occupants of that car being the major holdup in this case coming to trial.
As this driver is claimed to be a sangoma, the police are allegedly tiptoeing and pussyfooting around it, with regard to this accident investigation case that they claim has priority, as it is of a “high profile nature”.
That priority is not being demonstrated by the Paterson SAPS’ actions, in my mind. The case was moved from a detective sergeant to a detective captain and back to a sergeant over the past six months.
On speaking to the captain at one stage, with me reminding him of what he had said two weeks before, I was told by him that he had not said such a thing. This made me realise that justice for my daughter was not going to be forthcoming in a reasonable time frame.
I can only hope most people will not be exposed to this kind of fatal accident and police investigative incidents, as the trauma of seeing your daughter all mangled up alongside a road I would not wish on my worst enemy, or anyone else for that matter.
That I will miss my Queen B’s kiss every morning and night forever can only be stating this lost affection and love lightly.
This will be the way it will be until the day I kick the proverbial bucket. Peace be upon your soul, my Bianca-Anne.
God knows you would not harm a fly. You have left a void no other can fill in our lives.
I am numbed by the fact of your not being in our lives anymore today. Your mother is also extremely lost without you as you were not just a daughter to her, but also a dear friend and close confidant.
She misses that immensely. No other will ever take your place.
Constantly we engage God with questions as to why this had to happen to you. He knows, B.
I don’t know how someone who loved God through laughter, smiles and tears could be afforded such a painful demise. Here we are lost without you, my baby.
All of us seem to be in a confused state of just plodding through a bog. If your earthly family survives this tragedy that befell you and us, it in itself will be a miracle.
Rest wherever you are, my darling B, and ask Jesus to help us here on earth to be able to cope with your absence and what has befallen you, my Angel.
Just know I will leave no stone unturned in my quest for justice for you, my child. The gloves are off.
Denzyl Harper, Korsten, Port Elizabeth