VIP constable testifies in court
2009-11-10 09:57
-
Accidents
A resource for all Health and Safety professionals, particularly those who have responsibility for...
Now R430.95
buy now
Pretoria - A constable in the police's VIP protection unit drove at a "medium speed" of more than 100km/h at the time of a collision in which the driver of another vehicle died, a colleague testified on Monday.
Constable Malada Johannes Ramalope, 34, is facing charges of culpable homicide in the Roodepoort Regional Court after the death of Kyle Harris, 20, a dental technician from Florida, in June last year.
Inspector Bernard Clifton testified that he was driving with Ramalope in a Ford Territory as part of a police convoy that was, amongst others, escorting a Reserve Bank truck from Bloemfontein to Pretoria.
The vehicles in the convoy were driving along Hendrik Potgieter Avenue to get to the N14 highway before slow traffic on the N1 highway could pose a security risk for the load, testified Captain Hendrik Willem Stölm, the VIP commander of the convoy.
Traffic
In his testimony, Clifton claimed that Harris had moved from behind two rows of unmoving vehicles in Jim Fouché Drive, across the intersection and passed a marked VIP police car which was parked in the middle of the road to block off traffic, before hitting the Ford Territory that was moving down Hendrik Potgieter Avenue, on the right front side.
State prosecutor Mardie Human said due to the traffic islands regulating the flow of traffic, it would have been technically impossible for Harris to move past so many vehicles.
Clifton admitted he was not familiar with the area.
A sudden hail storm in the area scuppered plans to point out markers at the scene of the accident.
The case was postponed to November 30.