BMW driver who knocked over cyclist sentenced to six years' imprisonment

The family of a cyclist killed by a negligent drunk driver wept and hugged each other when they heard the motorist will spend six years behind bars.

The Randburg magistrate’s court sentenced Ishe Davani to six years of direct imprisonment on Friday for culpable homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol.

The court found that alcohol had contributed immensely to the accident, leading to Davani knocking over cyclist Steven Preston.

Davani’s driving licence was suspended for five years.

The court said his imprisonment would serve as a deterrent to others who may want to drive while under the influence of alcohol.

Magistrate Nozipho Gcawu told Davani his crime was prevalent in South Africa as not a day passed without lives being lost due to vehicle accidents.

“The offence is of a serious nature. Life was taken away,” she said.

Davani’s defence had told the court that Davani, a father of two, had pleaded guilty and not wasted the court’s time and asked that the magistrate take that into consideration when handing down his sentence.

Davani lost control of his BMW in June 2020 in Fourways and crashed into Preston on the side of the road. The cyclist was trapped under the car and dragged about 30m down the road, succumbing to his injuries about 40 minutes after impact.

The court heard that Davani had tried to control his vehicle but had lost control twice, as seen on a video that was submitted in court as evidence.

“It was clearly visible on that video when you lost control. You failed to control your vehicle twice. The accident report photographs [show] that he [Preston] was squashed under your vehicle,” Gcawu said.

In his plea explanation, Davani said at the time of the accident he was on his way to buy headache medication for his mother.

“If there was such an emergency, you may have called the delivery [service],” said Gcawu.

Speaking outside court, Preston’s wife Bernice said justice had prevailed and she had been waiting for this outcome. She said the sentence would show other motorists that killing a cyclist had consequences.

“I really hope this makes an impact outside. A lot of people have been following what has been going on,” she said.

She said her life had been very hard since the day she had been called to the scene where her husband died. “I still thought, you know, I can get there, I can hold his hand and we can get through this together — but before I could get there, it was too late.

“For us it has never been the same with my children, it is up and down, it is a roller-coaster,” she said, struggling to hold back tears.

She said she would miss the support her husband had given her.

“To be the only person who needs to get everything done, settle everything and not having the support of the person you would go to and ask: ‘Love, how do you think we should do this? Should we do that?’ That’s gone. It is not there any more.”

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