Crash driver fails to appear in court
SHAMEEN Thakur-Rajbansi says the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and police have failed her.
This after the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court issued a warrant of arrest for Vuso Tega, the truck driver who crashed into six cars and four trucks on the N3 in November last year.
Pradhil Thakur-Rajbansi, her only child, and his fiancée, Priyanka Nunkumar, were killed in the accident.
Tega, 42, a Zimbabwean national residing legally in the country, faces charges of culpable homicide as well as reckless and negligent driving. In November last year he was released on R10 000 bail.
He was due to appear in court last Tuesday but failed to pitch.
Thakur-Rajbansi said: “I am extremely heartbroken. My son and his fiancée Priyanka were killed in a collision caused by Mr Tega.
“At the least, I expected Mr Tega to provide his account about what exactly happened on that day. Two precious lives who served our communities died without any explanation for their deaths.
“The man responsible for their deaths is now evading accounting for their deaths.
“Does he have something to hide? Will he again with impunity sit in a truck killing innocent lives on the roads? Trucks are causing death and mayhem on our roads without accountability.”
Thakur-Rajbansi said she did not believe the police and the NPA were doing enough to ensure Tega is held accountable for his actions.
“The fact that he was granted bail without any consideration that he is a foreigner who could easily cross the border to Zimbabwe and never return or be apprehended demonstrates a total failure on the parts of the police and the NPA to ensure justice is achieved for Pradhil and Priyanka.”
She said the police and the NPA had also failed to prevent Tega from returning to the roads and killing others.
“Those in the police and the NPA who are responsible for rushing to grant this man bail must take full responsibility for any further carnage caused by this man on the roads.
“They have not only failed my family and I. They have failed every road user in South Africa who faces the risk of being slaughtered on the roads by drivers of the sort of Tega.
“Like him (they) can cause death and destruction on the roads and easily skip across the border after getting bail.”
She said the police and NPA ought to have investigated the risk of granting Tega bail.
“I intend to approach the MECs for transport and police. My attorney, Anesh Maharaj, was instructed to follow up with the NPA and the investigating officer."
Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, the spokesperson for the NPA in KZN, confirmed that a warrant of arrest had been issued for Tega.
She said he was due back in court on March 29.