A father has been left paralysed and his family injured after a motorist smashed into their car with his bakkie and fled the scene on foot.
Tragedy struck on Saturday night when Theo, 53, and Tamara Rasmus, 52, from Forest Heights were heading home after picking up their 24-year-old daughter, her boyfriend and another friend from a music concert in Durbanville.
“It was about 8pm and we were on the main road to Eerste River just before the Pniel Road turn-off and we were passing a T-junction and had right of way, but the driver in a Ford Ranger did not stop and he did not have the lights on either,” Tamara explains.
The blue bakkie crashed into their white Toyota Corolla.
“He smashed into the passenger side where my daughter and I were sitting. The car swerved and crashed into the cement barrier.”
While she sustained leg injuries, her daughter, the boyfriend and friend all suffered head injuries.
HORROR: The badly damaged Toyota Corolla at the Forest Heights scene
“Theo is at Tygerberg Hospital. We were told he has serious spinal injuries and he is paralysed now from the neck down,” Tamara says.
“Doctors will soon be transferring him to Groote Schuur Hospital as they have better care facilities for his injuries, we were told.”
Tamara urged police to find the driver, who left behind his bakkie.
She says according to the ID number found in the bakkie, the man is 39 years old and from Kraaifontein.
“The driver of the Ford ran away. He left behind his personal belongings and his vehicle. Theo and I will be married for 30 years on March 18. I just want that man to come forward and for the law to take its course,” Tamara explains.
Police did not respond to queries by Tuesday night.