A five-year-old boy was killed in a head-on collision between a bakkie and SUV on Ou Kaapse Weg on Sunday, September 11.
Russel Meiring, spokesperson for ER24, said when paramedics, Metro police and other emergency services arrived, they discovered an unknown person performing CPR on the child.
They took over and provided the little boy with advanced life support interventions, but after an hour, his vital signs had not returned and he was declared dead on the scene.
Another five-year-old boy, who was in the same crash, was assessed and found to have sustained moderate injuries. He was attended to, and later transported to Red Cross Hospital for further treatment.
The male driver of the SUV did not sustain any injuries, while the driver of the bakkie sustained minor injuries but chose not to be taken to hospital.
Mr Meiring said that it was understood that one man and the two children had been travelling in the bakkie when the SUV apparently swerved into the path of the bakkie.
However, an eyewitness on the scene, Ingrid de Beer, wrote on Disqus that there were actually three children in the bakkie and that she had attended to two of them.
“To the best of my knowledge the driver of the Mercedes SUV was alone in the vehicle. There was one adult and three children in the bakkie. All were wearing safety belts. I attended to two of these children, and the third, the deceased, was the son of the bakkie’s driver.”
Ms De Beer spoke out after reading an online report of the crash which suggested the bakkie driver had swerved in front of the SUV.
“I think that we need to be very careful of making definite statements,” she said.
“I was on the scene shortly after the accident, and remained there for several hours. The father of the deceased child, and the driver of the bakkie, was adamant that the Mercedes SUV came across into his lane and hit him head-on, despite his trying to take evasive action. This version was corroborated by other eye witnesses. So please let us not apportion blame until the facts are known,” she said.
“Please let us allow this devastated family to grieve the loss of their precious child, without blaming an already broken father when he may be innocent.”
The initial report from ER24 did state that the driver of the bakkie had swerved in front of the SUV – but this was statement was later withdrawn and corrected to say the reverse – with apologies.
Four emailed queries to police about whether the drivers had been tested for alcohol consumption, the identity of the people involved, whether manslaughter charges had been laid and if so when the court dates would be, were not answered by the time of going to press.
Kirstenhof police confirmed the incident and the death of the five-year-old child.
A case of culpable homicide is being investigated by Warrant Officer Conradie of Kirstenhof police and she is asking the public to come forward with details if they witnessed the accident.
Anyone with information is asked to call her office on 021 702 8900.
