Martin van Staden (26) was involved in a very serious head-on collision with a police Canter vehicle recently, which left him comatose for a few days.
Being extremely grateful that Van Staden survived the accident, his family is now trying to piece together the puzzle of this bizarre accident and believes that the Roodepoort Metro Police are trying to cover their tracks.
The NEWS spoke to Van Staden’s best friend, Brandon Kotze, about the accident.
“My friend was on his way home on his scrambler motorcycle one Saturday afternoon in August. He was riding mostly through the veld and open spaces. He came to a stop at the side of the road, stood up and checked if any vehicles were coming. That’s when the Canter hit him head-on,” says Kotze.
He mentions that since his friend was standing, most of his injuries occurred on his lower body, but it still left him in a critical condition.
For Kotze and Van Staden’s family, questions started arising after enquiries were made to the police.
“The problem is that the police are not conducting a normal investigation into this accident. The driver of the Canter ran away from the scene and presumably was drunk when he hit my friend since alcohol bottles were found in the Canter. Also, the police allegedly tampered with the evidence.”
Kotze decided to do a follow-up visit to the police station and the events that followed left him baffled.
“No one at the police station knew about the accident. I was stunned that our law enforcement could stoop so low.”
The NEWS contacted the Roodepoort SAPS spokesperson Constable Vincent Mashiteng who could not comment on the matter, but instead referred the NEWS to the Provincial Police’s spokesperson, Colonel Dlamini.
Dlamini immediately responded that the case number was not correct and that the NEWS should confirm the correct one with the family. Upon confirmation of the correct case number, Dlamini said he would investigate, but no other comment has been forthcoming since. Van Staden is in a stable condition in hospital after suffering extensive injuries and he has no recollection of what happened. His family is preparing for his strenuous recovery, but questions about why the police seem to be hiding the facts remain unanswered.
