'My son went through hell'

2006-11-27 07:43

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - The accident that led to the death of the second-most senior defence force general also caused the death of a 57-year-old woman.

Her son desperately searched for her before her body was finally found in the state mortuary. In addition, all her jewellery was stolen.

Lieutenant-general Sipho Binda, chief of joint operations, was buried at the weekend with full military honours after he had died of a heart attack shortly after the accident.

The same accident claimed the life of Sonja Dickerson, 57, a credit controller from Murrayfield, Pretoria.

Binda under the influence

Her neck was broken after she was thrown through the window on the passenger side of the Hyundai Getz by the impact of the accident.

Her cellphone and purse containing her identity documents were in her flat. Her son Ben had no idea where his mother was on her way to shortly after 23:00 when the accident took place in Nelmapius Road in Centurion Friday a week ago.

Binda was apparently under the influence of alcohol and he was unable to speak or stand upright, said people who arrived at the scene of the accident. Earlier in the evening, he had been at a defence force social function.

His Mercedes-Benz hit the other vehicle head on. Brake marks indicated that Dickerson tried to evade his vehicle and even swerved to do so, witnesses said.

The defence force last week refused to answer questions about Binda's blood-alcohol levels without the permission of his family.

According to information in Beeld's possession, 1 Military Hospital tested the blood and the alcohol level was apparently 0.5 g/100ml. Binda suffered minimal injuries.

Some of the notes and results on his file were apparently removed, as "inquiries about the incident could be expected", Beeld was told. The police were not able to confirm whether a blood sample had been taken to the police's forensic laboratory.

Police spokesperson inspector Anton Breedt said police were still compiling a docket about the accident. Beeld heard that the hospital was under no obligation to take a blood sample to the police, should the police fail to collect it.

Hennie Barnard, Dickerson's former husband, said he would be obtaining legal advice on Monday. His son will then decide whether to sue Binda's estate.

"My son went through hell trying to find his mother. He only found out that she was gone after her employer had started looking for her because she had failed to turn up for work."

"Metro police had no record of serious accidents and we started believing that she had been hijacked."

"Her cellphone kept ringing, because she didn't have it with her. Eventually we had to break into her flat. Her watch, jewellery and two credit cards were apparently stolen at the scene of the accident or at the mortuary."

- Beeld