Driver ‘did not see’ cyclists he struck

OMESH Ramnarain claims he did not see two Durban cyclists he struck with his car two years ago.

He took the stand in the Durban Regional Court yesterday at the onset of his trial on two charges of culpable homicide relating to the deaths of Richard da Silva and Jarred Dwyer.

He is accused of driving his car into them during their training on the M4 freeway in February 2016.

The businessman said he had been following a car which had swerved at the last minute‚ before his windscreen shattered.

He said he did not know if his windscreen had shattered because a rock had been thrown at it.

Magistrate Anand Maharaj asked if he agreed that whether or not the cyclists were meant to be there‚ he had a duty to be circumspect and observant.

In a plea statement earlier, Ramnarain claimed that he had spent the night on the town and consumed four bottles of cider before his car slammed into Da Silva and Dwyer.

“I was not under the influence of alcohol at the time and drove myself and my friend onto the M4 toward Umhlanga Rocks‚” he said. He said he had been following another car. “The car suddenly swerved left, moving onto the glide-off at the last possible moment,” he said.

“I continued straight in my lane and moments later heard a bang and my windscreen shattered.”