The man accused of killing a six-year-old girl and her nanny in a hit-and-run incident in Lotus River has pleaded guilty to two counts of culpable homicide.
On Friday, Moegamat Rafiek Hayners, 25, admitted he exceeded the speed limit and jumped a red robot along Strandfontein Road and 5th Avenue in Lotus River on 27 September 2018, killing little Shaylynn Arendse and her nanny Maureen Abrahams, 58, while they stood on the pavement.
Shaylynn had been a pupil at Strandfontein Primary School and had been visiting her nanny Maureen, who lived in Lotus River, for the September school holidays when tragedy struck.
Hayners, dressed in a blue jacket and black pants, appeared at the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court, while family of two victims arrived wearing T-shirts with Shaylynn’s face on.
TRAGEDY: Driver crashed into 6-year-old Shaylynn Arendse and her nanny.
His charges of defeating the ends of justice and fleeing an accident scene were dropped.
Soon after his arrest last year, Hayners was granted R1000 bail, without conditions stipulated.
He had handed himself over to cops days after the incident and after the car was found at a relatives’ home in Hanover Park.
Reading his plea statement to the court, his lawyer Advocate Adrian Samuels stated: “I plead guilty to two counts of culpable homicide and I was the driver of the Golf and I was on Strandfontein Road in Lotus River and I confirm that I was driving in excess of the speed limit and that I failed to stop at the red robot and lost control of the vehicle, causing the deaths of the above mentioned persons. They died as a result of my negligent driving.”
KILLED: Maureen Abrahams
Magistrate, Park, found Hayners guilty and the matter was postponed to December 10 for sentencing.
Hayners’ bail was also extended.
Shaylynn’s mother, Sharnall Arendse, was in tears outside court while her father, Jason Hendricks, told the Daily Voice: “It has been rough and an
emotional time. We are happy there is progress and that we can finally have some kind of closure. It has not been easy, we are still trying to pick up the pieces.”
AT COURT: Shaylynn’s parents Sharnell and Jason.
Shaylynn’s ouma, Brenda Tommy, says they want a stiff jail sentence for the accused: “He has pleaded guilty and we are looking forward to the day he will be sentenced and we thank everyone who has supported us and kept us in prayer.”
In November 2018, while being out on bail, Hayners was busted by the Hawks at a storage facility in
Somerset West where he was allegedly found in possession of tik and mandrax valued at R8.9 million.
Cops later also nabbed Russel Stanton Jonathan, 53, Mark Overmeyer, 51, and Zaynisa Alfoz, 45, saying the men were allegedly part of a huge drug syndicate.
Shaylynn’s ouma, Brenda Tommy, says they want a stiff jail sentence for the accused. Video: Genevieve Serra