UPDATE: R21 toddler was not thrown from car, was ‘roughly placed’

“When I left the scene I started crying. It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”

The words of Johan Breedt Jnr, who was on his way to a grocery store in Boksburg with his father on November 10 when they witnessed the scene that left readers across South Africa shocked and angry.

Also read:

• WATCH: Motorists left shocked as man throws toddler out of car on R21

“I saw a motorist in a silver BMW next to the road. At first, I thought something was wrong with the car,” Breedt, a Germiston resident, told Express.

Breedt and his father saw a man exit the car with a toddler, no older than one year old, and place her roughly on the ground next to the highway.

Express previously quoted eyewitnesses who said the little girl was thrown, but Breedt said this wasn’t the case.

“He didn’t throw her but he did place her on the ground roughly, then he got back into his car.”

Breedt and other drivers stopped at the scene. It was previously reported that the man exited his car to retrieve the baby when he saw people approaching him, but Breedt, who was first on the scene, said it was the woman seated next to him.

“She got the baby, jumped into the back seat and the driver drove off.”

Breedt chased after the car until he managed to stop next to the driver.

“I asked him what he was doing and we had a few rough words. He told me the baby was vomiting, but that wasn’t true.”

Before Breedt could find out more, the driver made an illegal U-turn and sped off.

“Each night I pray that the baby is fine. I can’t explain the feeling of what I witnessed, it’s a k*k feeling,” Breedt, who is a father himself, said.

Adele Johnson, who also witnessed the event, reported the incident to the police and told Express she would pursue the case as far as she could.

“I thought the man was throwing out trash, then I realised it was a child. If that’s what he does to her on a busy highway, what does he do to her in private?” Johnson, also a mother, said.

According to Lt Col Hlengeni Shilenge from Tembisa South SAPS, there are no new leads in the case.