‘Drunk’ SA diplomat in Fiji crash dies

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File photo

Published Feb 13, 2016

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Cape Town - A Fijian family’s hopes of seeing justice served after their eldest son and breadwinner was killed by an allegedly drunk driver have come crashing down following the death of the driver, a South African diplomat.

Department of International Relations spokesman Nelson Kgwete on Friday confirmed Theo Mostert, a manager at the South African High Commission in Suva, Fiji, had died last week.

“I can’t disclose the cause and circumstances,” he said.

It was also not clear where Mostert had died.

Mostert made news in Fiji after he was involved in a crash on October 2 in which Ashneel Singh, 26, died.

It was reported that Mostert, who had diplomatic immunity and was therefore not arrested, left the country following the incident.

This was despite the Fiji government wanting his diplomatic immunity scrapped.

Singh and his partner, Janice Jyotika Prasad, were travelling together when another vehicle smashed into them.

Singh died in hospital from the injuries, while his partner survived.

An article on the website Fijimala l

ast month, published 100 days after the crash, quoted Prasad as saying: “The person who is responsible for Ashneel’s death destroyed both our lives.

“Ashneel was one person who turned my frowns into smiles and I still love him and always will.”

His mother, Aruna Devi, was quoted as saying she missed Singh and wanted to see justice.

“Life changed after he died and we find it so hard to accept that he has gone and will never return, and we are living through each day with the help of our extended family.

“We urge the government to look into the matter and take some serious action,” she said.

She said her son was their only breadwinner.

Shortly after the crash the Fiji Times quoted police spokesman Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri as saying it was suspected Mostert was drunk at the time of the accident. He had been taken to a local police station to be interviewed.

The article also quoted a police commissioner, Ben Groenewald, as saying Mostert had not been kept in custody because he had diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention.

In an interview about two weeks after the crash and published in the Fiji Sun Online, Singh’s cousin Rahul Prakash said his family had learnt through media reports that Mostert had left the country.

“His departure shows that there has not been any justice given to us,” he said.

The Fijian government also issued a statement about two weeks after the fatal crash saying it had asked the South African government to waive Mostert’s diplomatic immunity.

Prior to the crash, the Fiji Sun Online reported in September that Mostert was attacked in his home in Suva.

That report said three men assaulted him as he was arriving home, leaving him with injuries to his face.

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