Cape Town - Three cyclists accused of assaulting a motorist in Sea Point have settled the matter out of court.
A film clip of the assault on Ibrahim Waggie, a 19-year-old studying human resource management at Northlink College in Tygerberg, went viral on social media in March.
The three men appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The court heard the charges had been withdrawn against Faizel Hendricks, Mogammed Solomon and Moeneeb Fataar.
State prosecutor Rui Carvalho said: “The matter is withdrawn – the mediation in the matter was successful.”
Defence lawyers for the men agreed.
Two of the men were alleged to have assaulted Waggie using their fists, a bicycle and pepper spray.
Waggie had been a volunteer at a charity event, the Sunshine D Polar Ice Cream 10km Big Walk on March 2. He had been driving a Toyota Quantum van which tailed the field while fellow volunteers in the van picked up empty water sachets on the big walk route.
At the time, Waggie described to the Cape Argus how the assault unfolded: “I was driving down Sea Point Beach Road. There were these water sachets and the guys at the back of the van were spraying each other. There were about 30 cyclists taking up one whole lane, and I overtook them. I don’t know if they got wet from the water sachets they were playing with in the back, or if one of the sachets hit them.
“I stopped at a red robot, where the guys would pick up sachets, when this man just started hitting me.
He said one man hit him twice with the wheel of his bicycle.
“One hit me with fists. I was sprayed three times with pepper spray. It was for 15-20 minutes and I couldn’t drive because I couldn’t see,” Waggie said.
The incident was filmed and posted on Facebook by Symon Scott.
The cyclists were members of the Muhammadeyah Cycling Club.
Two of the men were arrested at Sea Point police station for common assault and malicious damage to property, and the third man, Fataar, was arrested on March 6. As a result of the incident they were banned from participating in this year’s Cape Argus Pick n Pay Momentum Cycle Tour.
Cape Argus