Johannesburg - A super car that was allegedly filmed clocking 322km/h on the R21 highway in Ekurhuleni could be the key in the police’s hunt for the driver.
Ekurhuleni metro police believe the car that was in a dramatic chase with a motorbike alongside the OR Tambo International Airport was a Nissan GT-R.
“We have received information from somebody who is in the know of the type of vehicle used,” says Chief Superintendent Wilfred Kgasago, the spokesperson for the Ekurhuleni metro police department.
“That vehicle is a special vehicle and there are few of them in South Africa. So maybe we could sift through records and see where the owners stay and our investigation can take that route.”
A new Nissan GT-R can cost more than R2 million, and unmodified has a listed top speed of 315km/* .
But according to motoring experts, the GT-R is often modified making it go even faster. A problem though, the experts explain, is that while GT-Rs are not as rare as Lamborghinis in South Africa, there are still a fair number around.
VIDEO as received: R21 JHB. This madness must be stopped! @MbalulaFikile @GP_CommSafety @TrafficRTMC pic.twitter.com/mHzBF2kOi8
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) June 29, 2019
Anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee received the video last week and posted it on Twitter. It quickly caused an outcry.
The clip initially shows the car’s speedometer at 179km/h, as a motorcycle begins to approach the GT-R.
Then the passenger says in Afrikaans: “Laat hom gaan, laat hom gaan, dan gaan haal jy hom” (let him go, let him go, then go after him).
The GT-R quickly gains speed, passing the motorcycle and a shot of the dashboard shows the speedometer at 322km/h . The apparent quick acceleration suggests the car was possibly modified.
What is a challenge for the Ekurhuleni metro police is that there is little to be gleaned from the video. The licence plate on the motorcycle is not clear. It is also not known when the video was taken, a shot of the dash in the GT-R shows the time as 16.08.
“That is why we were hoping someone would come forward and say they know the driver,” says Kgasago.
“If that video will be admissible in a court of law that is another story, but that will be for the presiding officer to decide.”
But advocate Lawrence Barit believes the video would be admissible in court. Video makes good evidence, he says.
“He has admitted to it by putting it on to social media, himself. Number two, it is the best evidence rule and in this instance it is the best evidence, and he can be charged with reckless and or negligent driving,” says Barit.
“He can go to jail with this.”
Barit said that it would be difficult even for the owner of the vehicle to claim that he was not in the car at the time.
“He has got to prove who was driving it. The owner can dispute who was driving but the onus is on him to say who the driver was. If he can’t do that, he will be found guilty.”
In the UK, Adam Campion was sentenced to 21 months in prison last year after he shot footage on his cellphone of himself riding his motorbike one-handed and clocking speeds of up to 300km/h .
The concern now for law enforcement is that the Ekurhuleni video will spur others on to better the 322km/h speed record set on the R21.
“No respect for the rule of law. If we do nothing, others will challenge his insane speed,” Joburg metro police chief David Tembe tweeted.