Durban - Hoping to fill in the missing gaps to what led to his wife and baby’s death, a heartbroken Junaid Dawood ignored his family’s advice and spoke to the man responsible, soon after he had pleaded and was jailed.
Escorted down to the court holding cells by the investigating officer, Dawood came face to face with 30-year-old Wentworth resident, Kerwin Malgas, on Monday.
“I was scared,” Malgas responded when Dawood asked him why he fled after crashing into Dawood’s Toyota Etios on March 30, 2013, killing his wife, Salahia, and 9-month-old daughter, Maseehah.
“I can never forgive him and he knows that. I can never accept his apology,” a grief-stricken Dawood told the Daily News after speaking to Malgas.
“This is why I had told the prosecutor I would leave it to the court to choose a suitable sentence. I knew I wouldn’t be happy with whatever was decided because I wanted the death penalty, which doesn’t apply in South Africa.”
The husband and father is still battling to come to terms with his wife and daughter’s death.
“I go to visit them at the cemetery and it’s difficult knowing they’re there and I can’t take them home with me so we could go back to normal and being a happy family.”
The couple were married for four years at the time of the crash.
Durban Regional Court magistrate, Sharon Marks, was told on Monday that Malgas had entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the State.
Malgas pleaded guilty to two counts of culpable homicide, failing to perform the duties of a driver at a motor vehicle accident, and driving without a driving licence.
According to his plea, read out to the court by his attorney, Ridewaan Sayed, Malgas had driven a VW Golf 4 at speed and failed to keep a proper lookout while travelling in Travancore Drive, Merebank, when the collision occurred.
Dawood and his family had been returning home from a family function at the time.
“The last thing I remember before the accident was my wife, who was sitting behind me while I was driving, picking up my daughter to breast feed her. She doesn’t usually sit behind me, but for some reason that night she did and that was the side of the car that took the impact.
“The baby car seat was also ripped out the car,” Dawood said.
Salahia and Maseehah were flung from the vehicle on impact. Dawood said he was covered in blood and badly injured, but tried to dial on his cellphone with his uninjured left hand. “I dialled a few incorrect numbers before I was able to call my cousin. We had just left his house so he was there soon afterwards.”
The crash happened on a Saturday night and the family were due to leave on the Monday for a holiday at the Kruger National Park.
In the holding cells, Malgas apparently told Dawood that his relative, who was with him in the car at the time of the crash, got out to see the extent of the accident.
Dawood said: “I remember telling him (Malgas’s relative) not to worry about me but to look for my wife and child.”
Malgas, 30, admitted in court to fleeing the scene as well as to his wrong and unlawful conduct.
It was reported that police traced Malgas through a cellphone SIM card found in the Golf.
In the facts for sentence, Malgas said he was truly remorseful and apologised to the family. He said he had developed a close relationship with God since the accident.
He told Dawood afterwards that he was a different man since then.
He was sentenced to eight years in jail for the two counts of culpable homicide, half of which was suspended for five years. He was fined R6 000 (or six months in jail) for failing to perform the duties of a driver at a motor vehicle accident.
This was wholly suspended for five years. He was also fined R10 000 (or 12 months) for driving without a driving licence. This, too, was wholly suspended for five years.
The magistrate said it was a very sad day when people were killed as result of an accident.
“A young mother and baby lost their lives.
“A husband and father was seriously injured. The court hopes that with time, this nightmare would heal and that today the plea and sentence would assist the family with closure,” she said.
Marks also prohibited Malgas from obtaining a driving licence for three years.
Since the accident, Dawood has been in and out of hospital for numerous operations and is expecting to undergo further surgery.
He explained that his spine and neck were cracked and fractured, his upper right arm broken and his ribs were cracked.
A hip bone was removed and placed into his arm and he said his right hip bone would also be removed.
Dawood said that speaking to Malgas afterwards for answers and closure had not really helped.
“There were other charges that were not included in his plea that he admitted to me now.
“I’m grateful to prosecutor Krishen Shah and the investigating officer, Detective Warrant Officer Philip Charles Pillay, who went out of their way to help.”
Daily News