AfriForum's Private Prosecution Unit (PPU) has been tasked to investigate the police's alleged failure to complete a forensic investigation into a car crash, 19 months after the collision that killed wife and mother Danielle van Jaarsveld.
A spokesperson for the Unit Barry Bateman says the accident happened on the Swartvlei Beach Road, a few hundred metres from the Sedge Links Golf Course in Sedgefield on 6 November 2022.
He says Gareth Webster is accused of speeding when the Audi SQ5 performance SUV he was driving collided with Van Jaarsveld's Kia Sedan.
Gareth Webster and his company vehicle.
Bateman says Webster and his passenger were attending a golf day and escaped without injuries while Van Jaarsveld died on her way to the hospital.
He says Van Jaarsveld and her sister-in-law, who suffered serious injuries, were on their way to the beach.
The Audi SQ5 belonged to Webster's employer, Audi Centre George.
Webster made his first appearance on a charge of culpable homicide on 3 October 2023, almost a year after the accident, however, after several postponements, the state provisionally withdrew the case on 13 March.
According to the PPU, the police never completed a forensic report and told family members that eyewitness statements and video footage of the accident were not included in the docket.
Bateman says there is ample evidence to prosecute Webster.
"The police's inability to complete an accident report, followed by the withdrawal of the culpable homicide case against Webster, is yet another example of the state's lack of appreciation of the seriousness of the offence and the implications these delays have for Danielle's family," he said.
Algoa FM News has reached out to SAPS for comment.
