East London woman guilty of culpable homicide

An East London woman who drove over and killed a four-year-old boy in the Beacon Bay Retail Park shopping centre two years ago has been found guilty of culpable homicide by the East London District Court

Handing down judgment this afternoon‚ magistrate Leon Kemp said Nicolene Rhoda Hickman‚ 33‚ had not been observant while driving on the afternoon of November 12 2014 when she ran over Lutho Tafeni.

And she had attempted to lie her way out of the charges mid-trial.

Kemp was referring to Hickman's earlier submissions that she had been concentrating on the road and was distracted by the screams of bystanders when the collision occurred.

"Looking at the evidence of the witnesses my finding is … the accused's version that she was distracted by the shout and turned‚ and Lutho then crossed in front of her‚ is found to be false.

“I find that Lutho crossed at the time when the accused should have seen him and‚ under the circumstances‚ I find the accused guilty of culpable homicide‚" Kemp said.

Hickman sobbed throughout the 30-minute judgment.

The case was postponed to August 22 for sentencing.