Johannesburg - Award-winning jazz and Afro-pop singer Judith Sephuma is being investigated after her car ran over an elderly pedestrian in Soweto, police have confirmed.
Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela said on Sunday that a case of culpable homicide was being investigated after the singer’s car knocked over the 79-year-old woman on a street last Monday.
Makhubela said the case was originally one of reckless or negligent driving. However, after the pedestrian died in hospital, it became a culpable homicide case.
“After the investigation is completed, the case will be taken to court for a decision (on whether to prosecute).”
A date had not yet been determined for any court action.
Makhubela said police were waiting for a post-mortem report as well as witness statements and a reading of the speed at which the car was travelling.
Sephuma grew up in Polokwane and moved to Cape Town in 1994 to study as a jazz vocalist. In 1997 she graduated from UCT with a Performer’s Diploma in Jazz and went on to further study.
While in the Mother City she performed with bands like the C-Base Collective, the Cape Symphonic Orchestra, UCT’s Big Band and fellow UCT music student Selaelo Selota’s Taola Meropa.
Her debut album A Cry, A Smile, A Dance was critically acclaimed and she followed it up with New Beginnings.
Cape Times