More tragedy strikes couple involved in High Road accident

“It feels like my life is falling apart.”These were the words of High Road car accident victim Corrie Combrink on his 65th birthday on Monday.

Not only was he worried about his wife Grace (55), who was to have arm surgery in a Benoni hospital following their crash on Saturday afternoon. He also received news at 5am on Monday that his sister had died of lung cancer.

Corrie and Grace were returning to Benoni from a 90th birthday party in Bredell at around 3pm, when a speeding white Mercedes headed towards Pomona crashed into their bakkie with such an impact that their vehicle overturned.

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The couple managed to escape from the car, which had fallen onto the bonnet of a white Golf, through the car’s windscreen. The driver in the Golf escaped unharmed.

About 200 metres before that crash, the Mercedes also crashed into a female motorcyclist. Her injuries were so extensive that doctors were considering amputating her leg over the weekend.

A passenger in the Mercedes was treated for head injuries but the driver had fled the scene and was still at large on Monday.

“I never answer calls from numbers I don’t know, but luckily I did that day,” Combrink’s son, JC, an Edleen resident, told Express.

The 90th birthday party was for his father-in-law. “I had just seen them at the party, and then I get a call that there was an accident. I became ice cold.”

According to him, Corrie was discharged from hospital on Sunday, battered and bruised. Grace was still in ICU with a big cut on her arm and fingers that were unable to move, which was why doctors planned to operate.

“It makes me so angry to know that the driver fled the scene. Things go through my mind that I shouldn’t think of at all,” JC said.

He is one of the couple’s three children. The Combrinks also have four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A case of reckless and negligent driving has been opened.