Taxi victim spent time helping others

HE spent his retirement helping others and was two weeks into a month-long volunteer programme in Port Elizabeth when he was tragically hit and killed by a minibus right in front of his wife.

UK citizen Dudley Bayne, 70, was crossing the road with his wife, Carole, in Summerstrand on Friday evening when the fatal accident occurred.

The couple came to South Africa for a volunteer programme through the non-profit organisation, Calabash Tours.

The organisation’s director, Paul Miedema, described Bayne yesterday as a well-liked and very kind person.

“They came here on a month-long volunteer programme and this was their second week,” he said.

“Dudley and Carole are wonderful people and our thoughts go out to their family.”

Bayne was crossing Marine Drive at about 5pm, coming from the Something Good restaurant and heading towards the Summerstrand Village shopping centre, when the minibus hit him.

He was dragged for about 60 metres before the vehicle stopped. He died on the scene and his wife, who witnessed the accident, was taken to hospital and treated for shock.

The minibus was taken from the scene on a flatbed truck, and the police confirmed that a case of culpable homicide was under investigation.

“Dudley’s family in the UK have been notified and Carole is currently on her way home to the UK. In the meantime, arrangements are being made to have his remains transported home,” Miedema said.

The couple were part of a volunteer programme at Charles Duna Primary School in New Brighton.

Dudley helped the staff with the school’s financial administration system while Carole, a teacher by profession, was assisting the school’s science teachers.

According to Miedema, the couple were well-accepted at the school and did great work in the short period they had spent at the school and with the pupils.

A staff member at the school, who did not wish to be named, said she was shocked and very sad to hear about Dudley’s death.

School principal Nombulelo Sume could not be reached for comment yesterday.