Wedding night death relived
The trial of an SANDF soldier, charged with causing the death of a young bride on the way to a guest house on her wedding night, continues in the Pretoria North Regional Court.
Details of the heart-wrenching death in a car crash of a bride on her way to the wedding-night reception played out in court this week.
Hours after Chantal and Louwrens Geldenhuys exchanged vows in a church north of Pretoria, the couple was involved in a horror smash when an alleged intoxicated soldier drove into them, killing the bride and seriously injuring the groom.
Sergeant-Major Abram Themba had pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and reckless or negligent driving in the Pretoria North Regional Court earlier.
Themba allegedly skipped a red traffic light shortly after midnight on 2 December 2012 at the corner of Dr Van der Merwe and Sefako Makgatho drives.
Themba was driving a white Toyota Hilux bakkie, and according to earlier testimony in court, had to be helped out of his vehicle by Warrant Officer Jan Booysen.
The testimony was that Themba, who at the time of the accident had claimed he was a SA National Defence Force Colonel, had reeked of alcohol and that his speech had been slurred.
Temba’s blood alcohol level had been 0,12mg/100ml when measured after the accident. At the time, he held the rank of Staff Sergeant but had since been promoted to Sergeant-Major.
Themba started his testimony on Tuesday afternoon, after his application for a discharge was rejected by the court.
The court heard that Themba himself had been at a wedding in Soshanguve on the fateful evening and had been on his way home.
He also testified that the traffic light had been green in his favour when he crossed the intersection and had no idea where the Geldenhuys’ vehicle had come from.
He denied being intoxicated or tired and testified that he had only consumed two drinks at the wedding he had attended.
Earlier testimony from paramedic Donovan Jagga, who had found Chantal dead on his arrival at the accident scene, stated that Louwrens Geldenhuys had kept on calling for his wife.
Geldenhuys insisted that his new bride be treated first and Jagga told the court that he did not have the heart to tell the man that Chantal was dead.
The trial continues.
Also read:
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 072 435 7717.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
- We have exciting news! We’re offering a free alert to help you always be in the loop. Send an email with the word ‘Subscribe’ to breakingnews@rekord.co.za to receive your free daily breaking news update.
