22 2011 at 12:59pm
Estelle Brigando, 50.
Police have yet to arrest a man who hit the back of a small car at high speed on the N2, leaving two women dead, and then fled.
The incident occurred six days ago.
The police say they are “in the process of applying” for a warrant for the man’s arrest and that he has told the investigating officer that he will deal with them through his lawyer.
Estelle Brigando, 50, who served as chief sacristan at St Paul’s Catholic Church in Somerset West, was declared dead at the scene of the crash in the early hours of Youth Day last Thursday.
Courtney Moore, 18, a matric pupil at Parel Vallei High School in Somerset West, died in hospital hours later after sustaining horrific injuries.
Brigando’s two teenage daughters escaped injury.
Courtney Moore, 18.
INLSA
Together with some of her closest friends, Moore had been due to fly to Italy to compete in an international dance eisteddfod on Sunday night.
Instead, her family bade her an emotional farewell at her funeral on Tuesday.
Brigando’s funeral will be held today.
The tragedy unfolded just past the airport near the R300 turn-off, when a Mercedes-Benz C-Class Kompressor reportedly smashed into the back of a Toyota Yaris travelling in the direction of Somerset West.
Brigando had taken her elder daughter and Moore to take part in a modern dancing show in Claremont.
They were accompanied by her younger daughter, a pupil at Rhenish Girls’ High in Stellenbosch.
They were travelling home at about 1.30am when the crash happened.
According to a source, the Mercedes, travelling at high speed, hit the Toyota from behind and “smashed it off the road”.
The Toyota had been travelling in the “slow lane” - the left-hand lane - when it was hit.
Brigando’s elder daughter said their car had spun, then rolled before landing on its wheels.
Moore’s father, medical doctor Ralph Moore, who practises in Strand, said last night that he had arrived at his daughter’s hospital bedside just after 2am.
“In medical terms she was brain dead. I told her not to hold on… and within minutes she was gone,” the teen’s traumatised father said.
“She had the world at her feet… We are coping, but only by the grace of God.”
When the Cape Argus began seeking information about the incident, it was established that the driver of the vehicle was still a free man, six days after the incident.
Police spokesman November Filander said in an initial e-mailed report on Tuesday morning: “When police arrived at the scene, the driver of the Mercedes was nowhere to be found. A man who claimed to be the father of the driver and owner of the car, came to fetch the Mercedes. No one is arrested as yet.”
The Cape Argus asked why the driver had not been sought and arrested for leaving the scene of an accident in which there were fatalities, which is a criminal offence.
The paper also sought to establish why the car had been released when it was potentially evidence in a crime in which two women had died.
Filander’s response was: “Detectives still need to obtain further statements from the driver of the vehicle and therefore cannot issue a warrant of arrest at this stage.”
Late on Tuesday afternoon, Filander said: “According to the investigating officer, he got hold of the alleged suspect who indicated that he would liaise with police through his lawyer. Police are in the process of applying for a warrant for his arrest.”
Independent sources with expert knowledge of the criminal justice system described the non-arrest of the driver over the past six days as “bizarre”. - Cape Argus
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