Car jumps red light, kills child

2009-07-09 08:00

Marietie Louw-Carstens

Polokwane - A two-year-old girl was killed when the driver of a health department minibus apparently ignored a red traffic light.

On Monday morning the Toyota minibus allegedly crashed into a Volkswagen Polo at high speed. Shanelle Labuschagne, who was on the back seat strapped into her child car seat, was thrown from both the seat and the car by the impact.

On Wednesday afternoon Wiekes Labuschagne, Shanelle's father, related how his wife, Lacya, had immediately looked around for Shanelle when the car came to a stop.

"She saw Shanelle lying in front of the car on the sidewalk. She ran to her and called 'Shanelle!' She was lying with her face on the tar and was only barely moving. My wife could hear her breathing and making gurgling sounds."

Devastated

She was the couple's only child. The Labuschagnes had struggled to conceive for 13 years before Shanelle was born.

"We'd been waiting for her for all those years. She was always so friendly and lively. We're devastated," he said.

Lacya, along with her mother, Lonnie Roberts, and Shanelle were going shopping in the city on Monday morning. They were driving along Magasyn Street when the accident happened at the Grobler Street crossing.

 "The minibus came from the right at such a high speed that she (Lacya) didn't see it at all," Wiekes related. "She didn't have time to brake."

 The minibus hit the Polo on the right rear door, where Shanelle was sitting in her car seat.

Then the minibus ploughed through a wall before stopping . An unknown number of passengers were slightly injured. 

The provincial health department uses the minibus mainly for the purpose of patient transport. These vehicles don't have sirens because they are not used for emergencies.

Too seriously injured

A witness took the seriously injured Shanelle and her mother to the Limpopo Medi-Clinic.

Shanelle sustained serious injuries to the back of her head. Roberts sustained several bruises and Lacya was injured by her safety belt. Wiekes was attending a course in Johannesburg at the time. 

"My wife phoned at about 08:00 (before the accident) and said the little one wanted to speak to me. She was very chatty and told me that her mommy and granny were going shopping."

 Shortly thereafter he saw his wife was phoning him again, but he cancelled the call because the course had started.

At about 10:00 he had a chance to phone her back, which is when he heard that Shanelle had been very badly injured.

"Driving from Johannesburg was horrible. I kept hoping that they would be able to help Shanelle."

At the hospital his wife told him the news: "She said Shanelle had been hurt too badly, that she's gone."
 

- Beeld