The family of a woman who was killed in a fatal car crash involving Ekurhuleni city manager Kagiso Lerutla says they were shocked to learn the docket into her death had been closed and is missing from the police storeroom.
Sandra Mathabathe Mamaila died on May 14 2021 when a black Mercedes G Wagon driven by Lerutla crashed into her Hyundai.
Details of the crash emerged last week during Lerutla’s bail application, when it was revealed that a case of culpable homicide registered with Bedfordview police had been withdrawn in 2023.
Speaking to Sunday Times’s sister publication, Sowetan, Sandra’s cousin, William Mamaila, said they found out through the media that the case being discussed at the court appearance of Ekurhuleni metro police deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi and Lerutla was in fact that of their relative because of the similarities.
“I started connecting the dots when one of my sisters and a cousin called me asking me if I had heard what happened in court during Julius Mkhwanazi’s case. We found out the incident that they were speaking about [in court] is that of Sandra,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mkhwanazi and Lerutla were released on R30,000 bail each in the Boksburg magistrate’s court. They faced charges of fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice.
This is over allegations that in 2019 they found an impersonator to appear for Lerutla in court for a speeding charge.
Arguing against bail, prosecutor Adv Nceba Ntelwa said during the reconstruction of the scene, they found that Lerutla allegedly offered a tow truck driver R10,000 for him to remove Sandra’s body from the scene.
However, Mamaila told Sowetan that Sandra’s body was found at the scene following the crash which occurred on the N12.
In a bid to block Lerutla and Mkhwanazi from being granted bail, the state revealed that in May 2021, Lerutla was involved in a fatal car crash and that the case docket “mysteriously” went missing.
The state also said that new evidence shows that the accident on May 14 2021 happened at about 12.10am.
“A case of culpable homicide was registered with Bedfordview police and was closed as withdrawn in August 2023. But it is mysteriously missing from the SAPS storeroom where it is supposed to be kept,” read the court papers.
Mamaila said the family was shocked to learn that the case had been closed. They later asked an acquaintance to check the status of the case for them, and it was confirmed the case was withdrawn.
Sandra was working as a truck driver for SA Taxi, said Mamaila. In her job, she would travel to KwaZulu-Natal, pick up minibus taxis and deliver them to different parts of the country.
On the day of her death, she had returned from Durban and went to the company’s offices in Midrand where she parked her employer’s truck, Mamaila said. She then got into her Hyundai and drove home to Boksburg, where her sister Margaret and son were waiting, but never made it home.
Mamaila said Margaret went to the scene of the crash and was pursuing the case, but she died in July 2021.
“She just collapsed and died; and at the time we thought she contracted Covid-19,” he said.
Now that they believe they know the person responsible for Sandra’s death, Mamaila said, for them, justice would be knowing that the culprit is behind bars.
“Nothing will bring back our sister or erase the pain, but we hope he gets jail time. It will also prevent it happening to another family and save them from the type of pain that we went through,” he said.
“Sandra was a bubbly person and outgoing. She liked her work because she loved travelling.”
According to Mamaila, her son has been impacted by his mother’s death and the lifestyle he was accustomed to is gone.
“When he started school, it was at a private school, and after the death of his mother he had to be moved to a public school,” he said.
According to police records that Sowetan has seen, on July 27 2023, the docket was booked out to the senior prosecutor in Germiston and went back to the station from court the same day.
The records also show that on August 17 2023, it was booked out to the “senior public prosecutor at Germiston” then booked back the same day until it was subsequently “withdrawn” on August 28 2023.
Responding to the allegations through his lawyer Michael Hellens, SC, in court last week, Lerutla acknowledged the accident and confirmed that he was transported to hospital where he was treated for a few hours.
“I was informed that investigation into the culpable homicide had been concluded with a decision not to prosecute.
“I am not aware of how SAPS filing storerooms works, and I have nothing to do with the missing dockets,” he said in court last week.
Sowetan has seen the name of the officer who withdrew the case and has withheld the name.
Sowetan
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