Suspended sentence for man responsible for Kim Kerswill’s death

Under an agreement reached between the state, defence and the Kerswill family’s legal representation, Smith entered a guilty plea to the main charge against him.

Magistrate Eddie Hall sentenced him to three years wholly suspended and 365 hours of community service at Martin’s Funerals, which is something the Kerswill family pushed for.

At around midnight on December 16, Smith was driving Kerswill home from a party when he drove into a truck at a high speed at the N4/R40 intersection at the Crossing Centre.

Kerswill died at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg on Christmas Day after being transferred there from Mediclinic Nelspruit due to a neurosurgeon not being available in the province over the holidays.

Smith was also charged with driving under the influence. However, the police were unable to test him at the scene due to the commotion. He did admit to drinking on the night in question, but maintained that he had not been intoxicated.

Hall said, though Smith had said he had not been drunk when he was driving, that is a subjective opinion. “The aspects of driving under the influence is present but not proven,” he said. As part of the plea deal, he was not sentenced based on this charge.

The case was postponed since last September.

Both Kim’s parents were present at the sentencing. Her father, Johnny Kerswill, is a well-known local and former owner of Hi-Tech Security.

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Kim had completed her first year LLB at NWU Potchefstroom and was home for the December holidays when the accident occurred.

Her mother, Quenita, said the female lawyers in court made her think of the future her daughter would never have. “When I see these girls walk around in their robes, I wonder if that could have been Kimmy.”

Smith attended Hoërskool Nelspruit while Kim had been in Curro, but the two met and became friends in their matric year.

Johnny said he was satisfied with the outcome of the case. “It won’t bring Kimmy back, but I am happy with his sentence.”

Though the case was the state against Smith, the Kerswills had hired their own legal representation to ensure that the state had all the necessary resources to help get a conviction.

“I want to thank Adriaan Smuts, Arnoldt Cilliers and Eduard Meyer of Du Toit-Smuts who went out of their way to help the state with legal advice. I also want to say the state handled the case very well and I am glad one can still rely on the South African legal procedure,” Johnny said. He also thanked the SAPS for their role in the investigation.