The driver of the truck that crashed into a mall killing a woman says mechanical failure was to blame, a report has said.
|||The driver of the truck that crashed into a mall killing a woman says mechanical failure and a botched repair job were to blame for the tragedy, a report has said.
Driver Thabiso Motseko told The Witness newspaper on Thursday that he regretted that a life had been lost in the incident.
Alice Jogessar, 69, died in the accident on Monday, as the runaway truck veered off a road and careened across the parking lot of the Liberty Midlands Mall, in Pietermarizburg before smashing into a wall.
Jogessar, an estate agent, had been having supper with a friend from Egypt and was returning to her car in the mall parking lot when the truck hit her.
According to The Witness, Motseko said he didn't know Jogessar was in the path of the truck. He said he didn't see her at all.
“It was bad luck. I didn’t mean to kill her,” Motseko said.
“I’m sorry that she passed away.
“I lost control and I didn’t even see her. I feel guilty because I know how precious life is. No one deserves to die the way that lady died.”
“I remember knocking into trees,” he said.
“The windscreen cracked.
“I couldn’t see anything and the next thing the truck was full of bricks.”
“I read the newspaper and people say my foot must have been resting on the accelerator, but that’s not true,” said Motseko.
According to The Witness, Motseko and his co-driver Teboho Motoboli said they had left Gauteng on Thursday last week with a consignment of ironing boards that were destined for various supermarkets in Durban.
Motseko said trouble started halfway to Durban, at Harrismith, when the truck suffered a clutch malfunction.
He said when he reached Bethlehem, the truck broke down and the pair waited for three days while a mechanic fixed the vehicle. Motseko said that in that time, they faced an unco-operative mechanic, who made them wait unnecessarily.
Without a place to sleep, both drivers spent those nights in the truck which had been moved to a local garage, the report said.
By Monday evening, Motseko said the mechanic gave him and Motoboli the all clear and the pair drove off, headed toward Durban to make their delivery.
However, about 100km into their drive, at Estcourt, the vehicle began acting up again.
“I kept on driving, driving and driving.”
According to the report, he said as they approached Pietermaritzburg the brakes of the vehicle failed.
“The red lights flashed. There were no brakes. No clutch. The handbrake was jammed. I touched the brakes again, and again there was nothing.”
He told The Witness that his main concern had been not to damage other vehicles and so he changed lanes and took the city's Chatterton Road off-ramp.
With the momentum of the truck gaining, Motseko said he directed the truck on to Sanctuary Road before crashing through a fence around the mall and then into the parking lot.
“The truck was sliding. I said to my assistant, ‘Motoboli, it’s finished’.
“I thought we were going to die because of how the truck was speeding,” he said.
“But I kept on holding on to the steering wheel because I was scared of the damage the truck would create if it had lost control.”
He told The Witness that he was not badly hurt in the incident, having only suffered a twisted neck, leg and right hand. Motoboli’s injuries were also minimal.
Both drivers have since been discharged from hospital., the report said.
Motseko went on: “I think mechanics must make sure that when they do something they do it right.
“He just said the truck was fine and ready.”
Police said they were still continuing their investigation.
Meanwhile, moving tributes were paid on Thursday to Jogessar as family and friends gathered at the Aryan Hall for her funeral.
Close friend Ivan Pillay said that while he had known many people in this life, Jogessar stood out because she was the “most precious person”.
“Knowing her was more than a pleasure, it was a rich and gracious blessing in every sense of the word.”
The director of Pietermaritzburg Child Welfare, Julie Todd said that Jogessar, a former teacher, had always been concerned about the plight of others less fortunate and children. - IOL, additional reporting by Sharika Regchand of The Mercury.