Durban - “Call my mom, I’m dying.” These were the last words of a second student to be killed in violent attacks on drivers in Durban in two days.
On Tuesday night design student Kurtlee Pillay, 20, died when he was thrown from his hijacked car near 45th Cutting in Sherwood.
On Wednesday night his family, who live in Overport, said they thought he was on his way home from work when he was killed.
His death follows the murder of Shrivaar Panday, 22, a BCom student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, on Monday morning.
Panday bled to death on the forecourt of the Engen Garage near Mitchell Park after he was stabbed in his car, in what appeared to be a smash-and-grab incident.
Like Panday, Pillay drove a Citi Golf.
Although it was unclear how Pillay’s nightmare started, a witness told The Mercury how he saw the student flung from his blue VW Golf.
Ishumael Kunje, 24, a guard at a complex in West Riding Row in Sherwood, said he still felt shocked.
“The car was driving so fast. Suddenly I saw this guy being thrown out of the car while it was moving. They continued speeding.”
He saw Pillay lying in the road “covered in blood” and he ran to raise the alarm with a resident from the complex.
“He (the resident) called the police and the ambulance,” he said.
“I couldn’t even talk nicely last night. I was so shocked,” he said.
Netcare911 spokesman Chris Botha said paramedics arrived at 10.30pm to find a “very gravely injured man with multiple stab wounds and abrasions from being dragged along a road”.
“Despite their efforts, he died at the scene,” he said.
A family spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said Pillay was “a typical youngster, who liked his cars, was very homely and was very religious”.
“His mom and him were very close – and his dad. He was very well-liked in the community and had a lot of friends,” he said.
Pillay’s uncle said he was planning on moving to China next year to further his graphic design studies and to work. He had studied at the Centre for Fine Arts, Animation and Design on the Berea. His grandparents were planning a birthday bash for him when he turned 21 on April 1 next year.
“The family are devastated. It’s a big loss to us.”
He said Pillay had been conscious when he was found and gave the person who found him his mother’s telephone number.
“That guy phoned his mother and then my brother and everyone rushed to see what happened,” the uncle said.
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane said three men had been arrested and were expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court.
Sydenham Community Police Forum spokesman, Satish Dhupelia, commended police for the “swift” arrests but said “we need to examine society”.
“We need to put an end to this senseless and violent killing in society. It’s not just about putting people away. We need to find answers as to why people are resorting to such levels of violence,” he said.
The Mercury