Rock-paper-scissors to his death
2008-10-22 10:16
Pretoria - Two teenage boys played rock-paper-scissors to decide where to sit in the Land Rover. Moments later one of them was dead.
David Baker lost, but Bennie van der Westhuizen said they should play again because David was in matric this year.
David, 18, a Grade 12 pupil at Gerrit Maritz High, then sat at the door, but was killed shortly afterwards in a car accident on the old Brits road.
And on Tuesday morning Bennie, a Grade 10 pupil at Pretoria North High, lost another friend as a result of the accident.
Overturned
Jacques Bronkhorst, 17, who lived with Bennie and his parents, died of his injuries in the Netcare Akasia Hospital.
Ben van der Westhuizen, Bennie's father, said on Tuesday: "Those two boys should not be dead.
"It feels so unreal and their death makes no sense."
He said he had been driving in front of the boys in his own car and saw what happened.
His other son, Shane, 20, was driving the Land Rover, which was towing a boat.
They were driving at about 70km/h to the Hartbeespoort Dam where they wanted to take the boat for a spin.
The outing had been planned to celebrate the birthday of Shane's girlfriend, Zenobia Theunissen, 18, of Akasia High.
Like Shane, she is still in hospital.
Van der Westhuizen said Shane got a fright when an oncoming bakkie seemed to veer across into their lane.
He tried to jerk the Land Rover back, but it overturned, with the boat following.
The joker
Jacques's parents, Hansie and Soekie Bronkhorst, said at the Van der Westhuizens' house on Tuesday that their son had always been game for anything.
"He never said an unkind word about anyone and always said only God could judge us."
They said the interest after the accident had been overwhelming. As many as 150 pupils were waiting at the hospital last night.
Jacques was like his own son, Van der Westhuizen said.
Jacques and Bennie were "inseparable and did nothing without each other".
"We're going to miss him. He was always laughing and was the joker in the house. You always knew where you stood with him."
Niel van Wyk, another friend involved in the accident, would be in hospital for a few more weeks.