BRITS – Nearly three years after a 65-year-old Brits man was fatally crashed into by a teenage driver the matter was before the Brits Magistrate’s Court.
Patrick Jewell died nearly three weeks after the 21 September 2021 crash.
Until today, the matter had stalled supposedly because the teenager’s father is a captain in the police’s VIP Protection Unit.
AfriForum Spokesperson Barry Bateman said it was suspected that the failure to investigate the case is an example of police officers covering for their colleagues.
As a result of the inordinate delays, Jewell’s daughter, Jacky Jewell, sought the help of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit to represent her in the matter.
Today, Thursday (4 April 2024), 19-year-old teenager Kgaugelo Masenya, who allegedly stole his father’s car for a joyride with his friends before the deadly cash, made a brief appearance in court.
Masenya has been charged with culpable homicide and driving a vehicle without a license.
The accused was 16 years old at the time of the incident. On that fateful day, Jewell was on the pavement outside his house loading water bottles into his Hyundai i10.
Jewell wanted to use the bottles to water the flowers at his wife’s gravesite.
Surveillance footage shows a white BMW X5 speeding around a corner, and losing control.
The BMW X5 can be seen colliding with the small car where Jewell was standing.
Jewell was critically injured and transported to hospital, where he died 20 days later. Within two months of the collision, Jackie Jewell had obtained the surveillance footage of the crash as well as the contact details of the person whose footage it was.
This was provided to the investigating officer.
Six months later he had still not obtained the video footage.
Further, the investigating officer had not collected an affidavit from an eyewitness, which was drafted six weeks after the incident.
Bateman said in May 2022, having learnt of the investigating officer’s conduct, the AfriForum Private Prosecutions Unit filed a formal complaint.
By July, having not received any meaningful response from the provincial office, the unit officially complained to the police’s national office.
It was then that the matter was properly investigated. The docket was eventually sent to court in May last year and a decision was made to prosecute Masenya.
Bateman said without the intervention of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, the matter would not have been placed on the roll.
“Too often we deal with cases where detectives fail to do what they are duty-bound to do, which is to investigate crime,” said Bateman.
“In this matter, we suspect that the status of the father of the accused was a factor in this failure to investigate.
“This offends the principle that everyone is equal before the law and can simply not be tolerated.
“It was the Private Prosecution Unit that ensured the SAPS gathered all the relevant evidence and presented a docket to the NPA.”
Jackie Jewell said she was grateful for the Private Prosecution Unit’s support.
“I’m very happy, but I have mixed emotions because you don’t know what to expect,” she said.
“But something is happening now and we can go to trial and there can be some sort of justice for my dad.
“AfriForum helped me the whole way, they were there the whole time pushing this case, getting more information, and making sure that everything is 100 percent.
“I can’t say the same for the police.”
The matter was postponed to 10 April 2024.
