Car rams home close to tot
When Juanita Kotze woke to a bang in the early hours on Saturday, she thought it was an earthquake.
Instead, a car had smashed into her house, metres from where her 2-year-old son slept. Her husband heard the car coming, and covered the boy with his body to protect him.
“This could have been a tragedy,” Kotze said.
The car, which ploughed through their fence and into the concrete porch, was allegedly driven by a 13-year-old.
Its occupants allegedly told police a woman had been driving, but police found the driver’s seat was pushed as far forward as it could go.
“They then admitted a 13-year-old boy was driving the car, and that there were about eight passengers in the vehicle,” Kotze said.
Police also found alcohol bottles in the car, she said. “It took me probably an hour, an hour and a half to settle down, I was shaking.”
It had taken about three hours to clean up the mess, although the concrete porch had taken most of the impact. A shattered window and scratches in the paint were the worst of the damage to the house.
Part of their front fence had to be removed however, and the car took out several trees as well.
Kotze said the area had a history of boy racers, and locals were anxious about the road, especially given Hastings Boys High School’s close proximity.
“I am not going to allow my toddler to play here on the front lawn, because heaven forbid, what is to say it can’t happen in daylight?”
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said he had experienced three cars crashing through his fence. He said another five neighbours had also had cars go through their fences, and there were regularly cars in the ditch next to the railway lines, or wrapped around powerlines. “How someone hasn’t died is beyond me.”
Police confirmed they were called to the incident at 1.05am on Saturday.
No one was injured during the event and investigations were ongoing.
A spokesperson for Hastings District Council said they were looking into the road’s background.