A one-year-old boy has died after his head was crushed under the wheel of a bakkie on Tuesday afternoon.
Little Neelen Rossouw’s heartbroken family says they are traumatised after finding his lifeless body.
Ouma Naomi, 46, says she was inside her Veldvy Crescent home in Roosendal at the time of the accident and got a skrik when neighbours came.
“Neelen and his mother Nikita, 18, live in the same road as me, but they live where the accident happened,” the hartseer granny explains.
“I was at home and the neighbours came to shout that I must come now. I don’t know how the accident happened, but when I got there, I saw him lying by the bakkie.”
Naomi says Neelen was inside the yard behind a gate while his mother was bathing.
“She was inside washing herself, but the front gate was closed,” says the ouma.
“The gate is very heavy so we think someone opened it and left it open by mistake and Neelen got out into the street. He couldn’t have opened the gate on his own.
INCONSOLABLE: The mother Nikita Rossouw
“When we got there, the people said the bakkie reversed over him and his head was crushed. It was a horrible scene.”
She says Delft police spoke to the driver, who remained on the scene after the incident.
“We don’t know exactly how it happened, but it was an accident. The driver stayed there the whole time and gave his statement to the police.”
SCENE: The street in Roosendal
“She is a single mom and this is her first child. She has been crying the entire day and we are all very heartbroken,” she says.
“We couldn’t bring ourselves to go to the mortuary and the family does not have money to bury him.”
Police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk, confirms the incident and says: “Delft detectives are investigating a culpable homicide case after a child was knocked down and fatally injured in an accident on Tuesday at approximately 4.30pm in Veldvy Crescent, Roosendal. The driver of the vehicle was taken in for questioning”
Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to call Delft police on 021 954 9000.