Unattended accident leaves family hopeless
The family believes that justice can never be served because the law enforcers did not "do enough".
The Stapelberg family believes justice will never be served because police and traffic officers did not thoroughly investigate a recent car accident scene.
Yolandi Stapelberg, the wife of injured driver Johan Stapelberg, told the News that neither the local police nor the Mogale City Traffic Department took a breathalyser test on the driver of the car that collided with theirs in a small road in West Village on Saturday 5 March.
Both cars allegedly collided at a fork in the road. The News saw that there were no clear traffic lines or signs for drivers on either side of the road.
“I got stuck in the door after the crash. The Neighbourhood Watch and Community Policing Forum (CPF) had to help me out,” she said.
Two children were also in the car with Yolandi and Johan but no one, except Johan, sustained any serious injuries.
“Johan lost consciousness and was taken to hospital for injuries to his back,” Yolandi said.
Amanda Stapelberg, who arrived at the scene later, said she could smell alcohol on the other driver’s breath after he climbed out of his car and spoke to them.
“The accident happened just before 5pm. They were on their way to our house. Both the police and Traffic Department left the scene without taking any breathalyser tests,” she said.
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Tshepiso Mashale, told the News that the South African Police Service do not use breathalysers at all and that the traffic department is responsible for administering these tests.
The Mogale City Traffic Department spokesperson Papi Motaung, however, said that officers did indeed attend to the accident scene on the Saturday and was asked by a CPF member to breathalyse someone involved in the accident. He said it posed a problem as the scene was already taken care of by police.
“It could be seen as interference. The traffic officers also had no breathalysers in their possession,” he said.
The News has also approached the other driver’s family for comment, but none was forthcoming.
Johan returned home from hospital four days later, after receiving treatment for his injured back, and has still not been contacted by police.
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