Woman held for friends’ hit-and run deaths

Sumeer Maharaj died at the scene.

Sumeer Maharaj died at the scene.

Published May 25, 2016

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Durban - Police have arrested a woman in connection with a peak hour hit-and-run incident which claimed the lives of two friends near Durban’s Blue Lagoon.

Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, on Tuesday confirmed the woman had been arrested for culpable homicide and that her car had been impounded.

Phoenix residents Sumeer Maharaj, 26, and Praven Mahabir, 25, were struck by a passing car on Wednesday last week while helping their friend, Junaid Singh, change a tyre near the on-ramp to the Ruth First M4 Northern Freeway. Mahabir died at the scene and Maharaj died later in hospital.

According to the Daily News’s sister title, Post, a northbound Kia Koup, which struck them, failed to stop.

Debris from the car was reportedly found at the scene and was being studied by police.

Phoenix resident, Singh, had been on his way home when he had car trouble. In an interview with the Daily News’s sister paper, The Independent on Saturday, Singh said: “I heard a noise and suspected it to be the wheel; I had an employee in my bakkie at the time, and we pulled over, and I put my hazards on. I phoned a friend to help me fix it.”

Maharaj and Mahabir arrived to help. As they were working on the tyre, a car came hurtling towards them.

“The next moment this driver came towards the yellow lane and he was driving so fast; Praven was hit first and then Sumeer was hit last,” he said. Singh's hand was broken in the accident.

He said he could hear his friends Maharaj and Mahabir calling out for him. A passing taxi stopped and the passengers came to their assistance.

Zwane said the suspect was expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court soon.

Daily News

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