Africa-Press – South-Africa. Free State police say a minibus taxi driver who admitted to hitting an 18-year-old woman on the R82 in Viljoensdrift will not be charged with culpable homicide.
Constable Stephen Litseo told News24 on Tuesday the incident happened last month.
The driver alleged he accidentally hit the woman when she unexpectedly appeared and walked in front of his vehicle.
“He was not charged. He would have been charged if he was drunk. We also would have charged him with culpable homicide because he would have been driving under the influence of alcohol,” said Litseo.
He added the passengers corroborated the driver’s version of events and told police the woman “appeared out of nowhere”.
The woman did not survive the incident.
Litseo said her body was still at a state mortuary and police were seeking information about her family.
He added police were also looking for the family of a 37-year-old man who was hit by a vehicle on the R59 in a separate incident last month.
Litseo said both victims did not have any identification on them when the incidents happened.
“We don’t have any family members that have come forward for the missing people.”
Litseo said police had captured fingerprints of both victims.
He added it was difficult to track down the family of the 18-year-old victim because her fingerprint results did not reveal any information about her.
“We would have been able to trace her family if she had been charged with a criminal offence before, but now it’s difficult.
“On the 37-year-old male, we are still waiting for the results but if he was charged previously, we will be able to track down his family but if he wasn’t as well, it will be very difficult.
“We do have photos but we can’t publish photos of people when they’re deceased. If we had photos of them when they were still alive, it would have been easier.”
Litseo said if no one identified them within three months, the state would bury them.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
