Pretoria - The City of Tshwane will, despite the criminal investigation, institute internal processes against its contract grass cutter who allegedly threatened a 13-year-old with a grass trimmer.
Bianca Jenkinson suffered a broken nose, bruised eye as well as scraped hips, shoulder and knees after she was hit by a motorbike while fleeing from the man.
She said the accident occurred when she and her elder sister Dominic and their 17-year-old friend were sent to the shops in Queenswood along Nico Smith Street on Saturday afternoon.
They came across three contract workers cutting grass along the pavement.
While they tried their best to walk around the workers, Bianca allegedly asked the men to turn off the machines to let her pass as she was scared.
However, she said the men laughed at her. She told the Pretoria News: “I was really scared, but I tried to walk past them and that is when one of them turned and started chasing me with the grass trimmer. That is the last thing I remember.”
According to the friend, as soon as Bianca tried to run away she was hit by a motorcycle while another car approached, with the driver distracted while texting on a phone.
The friend said: “I didn’t even think. I saw that the driver had not seen the accident and was going to run Bianca over; so I jumped into the road and shouted at him to stop.”
A motorist who saw the accident from his rear-view mirror stopped to assist the children. The grass cutters allegedly ran away.
Bianca’s grandmother, Jenni Wilson, said she was beyond grateful that her granddaughter had not died. “I understand that they were probably joking and just trying to scare the children, but they saw her get run over from behind by the motorcycle; the least they could have done was to stop the other cars from running her over.”
City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said they were extremely worried and concerned about the incident. He said five employees had given statements to the investigating officer.
He said: “We will allow the criminal case to proceed and have an internal process as well.”