Six years in prison for killer driver
Magistrate hits out at lack of remorse towards families
KOOBASHAN Naicker received his sentence in silence as a storm of emotion erupted from relatives of the people who died in a car accident he caused on Durban’s Athlone Bridge three years ago.
Dressed in black, the disbarred lawyer — known as the “bridge crash lawyer” —
I just wish we could ‘unhappen’ March 26 — victims’s grandmother
listened quietly as he was sentenced to an effective six years in prison, with two additional years suspended by magistrate Blessing Msani in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The sentence was meted out to the 43-year-old nearly three years after his reckless driving led to the deaths of eight-year-old Connor Bell and his mother, Gillian, 32, and 19-year-old dancer Carmen Hunter.
Naicker also received fines amounting to R9 500 for traffic violations. He pleaded guilty to eight charges, which included three of culpable homicide and one of reckless driving, only in October last year.
Msani said that Naicker should have made an attempt to contact his victims’ families to express his remorse.
“He should have made the time to meet with the deceased’s families, perhaps offered them something towards funeral costs through the investigating officer or prosecutors, but he did none of this.”
Msani said it made it dif- ficult to accept the testimony of Naicker’s wife, Patty, that he was remorseful. When taking the stand, she had begged for leniency for her husband. He also said it was “remarkable” that she and not Naicker had testified.
Patty had told the court that Naicker was remorseful about his actions and was trying to change by going to church and going to rehab and AA meetings.
“What his wife described could not have been remorse. Instead it could have been regret.
“The sleepless nights should have been an awak- ening to the prospect of imprisonment.”
Connor’s tearful grandmother, Audrey Bell, said: “I’m glad it’s over. I just wish we could ‘unhappen’ March 26 so that Gillian and Connor could still be with us.”
She and two other family members wore T-shirts with images of Connor and Gillian on them.
Naicker’s lawyer, Mervin Maistry, said the sentence had not been what his client had anticipated, although “he kind of reconciled himself to the fact that there would be a sentence of a custodial nature.”