Court mulls sentence for runner’s death
A 21-year-old KZN student who admitted to fatally hitting a marathon runner with his mother’s hired car will soon know his fate.
|||Durban - Tears flowed in court on Monday as argument on sentence in the case of 21-year-old Durban University of Technology student, Zandisile Ndaba, began.
Ndaba pleaded guilty to culpable homicide, admitting he was responsible for the death of a local marathon runner.
Ndaba last year admitted to falling asleep at the wheel of his mother’s hired Hyundai Getz on the morning of February 9, 2013, in Alexandra Road, Pietermaritzburg, and hitting city accountant, Neil Robinson, 60.
Robinson had been running with his partner, Lynn-Rae van den Berg, at the time.
The couple, avid runners, were training for the Maritzburg Marathon.
Ndaba lost control of his vehicle and struck Robinson, who was dismembered by the impact of the collision.
He died at the scene.
Van den Berg and Robinson’s sister, Sharon O’Hara, testified in aggravation of sentence in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Monday, expressing their grief and telling how the tragedy had affected their lives and their family.
Both women broke down in tears while giving their evidence, and the case had to be stood down for a new interpreter (the court-appointed employee who interprets from English to isiZulu for Ndaba), after she was also unable to control her emotions and burst into tears.
Ndaba also sobbed heavily in the dock as the women testified.
Van den Berg told the court that the day Robinson was killed, was the day her world ended. She said the horrific way in which he was killed was an image she could not put out of her mind.
Van den Berg has sought counselling and has been prescribed sleeping pills and anti-depressants to help her cope.
“Losing Neil so suddenly has devastated my life. He was such a loving, gentle, good natured person who enjoyed life. It is such a loss not to have him with us, and I miss him more than words can ever explain,” she said.
O’Hara echoed Van den Berg’s sentiments, and added that Robinson's death had greatly affected his two adult children, Bradley and Leanne, who had opted to deal with their grief in private.
Leanne’s engagement notice was in the local newspaper on the same day that her father's death was front-page news, which completely shattered her.
“Neil left behind memories of quirky humour, laughter, respect, love and compassion,” she said.
Also testifying on Monday were correctional and probation officers, who recommended that Ndaba be sentenced to a wholly suspended term of imprisonment and also be directed to serve a term of correctional supervision under house arrest.
Ndaba, who is in his final year at DUT studying for a diploma in quantity surveying and construction, is a first offender and lives with his father at his home in Waterfall.
After the accident, Ndaba indulged in alcohol to cope with the tragedy and participated in a 21-day rehabilitation programme at a local centre.
He also attended several counselling sessions with a student counsellor at DUT and a private psychologist.
Probation officer Maya Ngcobo said in her opinion Ndaba needed to be rehabilitated, but a direct prison term was not an appropriate punishment.
“Ndaba is a young, brilliant person who dreams and aims high in life for his future. By remaining in society he can make reparation for the harm he has done by rendering an unpaid community service. Exposure to the prison environment could have a detrimental effect on his well-being,” she said.
Sentence will be given on September 18.
SAPS accident unit’s Captain Dolf Otto gave some startling statistics at the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Monday.
Otto testified that in 2013, police attended to 207 culpable homicide accident cases in the capital city, in which 264 people were killed. And in 2014, that number sat at 201 cases, with 254 fatalities. Accidents in 2013 involving male drivers between the ages of 22 and 25 totalled 1 320.
Otto confirmed that, according to his research, an average of 14 000 people were killed each year on South Africa’s roads, at a rate of about 40 a day.
“Young people play a large role in road carnage with alcohol, speeding, overtaking when not safe, failing to wear seatbelts and a general flouting of the road rules,” Otto said, adding that the death rate of young drivers (aged 19-29) was five times more than that of older persons.
Daily News