‘Cop who ran over my son still out there’

Published Jul 31, 2015

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Johannesburg - It has been two years and Belinda Joseph is no closer to getting justice for her son’s death than when he was allegedly run over by a Joburg metro police officer.

Mervin Burts, 32, was knocked down by the officer who was allegedly driving in the Rea Vaya bus lane in Noordgesig near Soweto on February 4, 2013. Last week, the family were informed by the police that the case has been dropped because of a lack of evidence.

Her voice quivering, the distraught 58-year-old mother recalled the day of the crash.

“A girl came in at 7 in the evening and said Mervin was bumped on the highway. My husband and I went out and found Mervin lying in the Rea Vaya lane. There were JMPD officers there and an ambulance arrived right when we did. He was unconscious. He had come from Diepkloof Square nearby where he went to buy formula for his 11-month-old daughter,” she said, choking up with tears.

Burts died two months later in hospital – 20 days before his daughter’s first birthday.

His only child is now three years old and can’t remember her dad, but she knows he looked like her uncle Michael, Burts’s twin brother.

A family member begins to cry as they speak about their late brother.

Burts’s sister, Rhoma Doubell, said she remembered the horrific scene vividly.

“He hit him so hard, the sole of his shoe came off. They said he flew up and fell down when the crash happened. It’s terrible. He had crushed bones, he was blind and brain damaged after the accident and died after two months in hospital. He was in and out of a coma. He was like a little baby.”

The family want justice for his death and want to know why the metro police officer broke the law by driving in the Rea Vaya lane.

JMPD spokesman Wayne Minnaar said the fine for driving in a bus lane was R500.

“I’ve gone up and down to the police station, the courts, even the Wits Law Clinic,” Joseph said. “The first time I went there, I asked for a copy of the case file; it was a few days after the crash.

“There’ve been so many different policemen on the case and each of them promises to come to the house. I didn’t know about the two inquests because they sent letters about them which arrived only after the date. The docket was lost twice.”

Joseph showed The Star the inquest letters from her stack of documents on the case.

The family have been collecting their own evidence because they believe there is foul play in the police.

They have pictures of the officer who ran over their son while he was in JMPD uniform, pages upon pages of information about the accident and copies of signed statements. They also have pictures of the scene as well as photos of Burts after he was knocked down.

Joseph still thinks of the man who killed her son. She said he wore his uniform jersey and hat and looked unbothered by what had happened.

“He was sitting in the JMPD minibus and he looked calm while my son lay there. He never even got arrested. The next day he came to our house, stood in my living room and said he’s sorry. Then he left.”

Doubell added, crying as she spoke: “Why does everyone deserve justice except my brother?

“All the evidence is here. He was on the scene, he admitted his guilt, so why isn’t it culpable homicide? Why’s he so special? We are angry. We’ve been running from pillar to post. This man does not deserve to be out there.”

Since Sunday, The Star has been trying to get comment from Minnaar but to no avail.

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The Star

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