Baby killed in suspected drunken driving, but no arrest
A 26-year-old woman of Mmadinare, Tumelo Molatlhegi, has no peace. She seeks justice for the death of daughter, Joy, who died in 2021 after she was hit by car.
Narrating her ordeal to The Midweek Sun this week, the teary mother said that on the 21st of December 2021 her daughter was hit by a car inside the yard where she resided in Mmopane.
The car was driven by their neighbour Tshwaranang Makakau, who it is alleged was discovered to have been driving under the influence of alcohol. The man has since denied blame and now only
answering for driving without a licence.
According to Molatlhegi, at the time of the incident, she was in another room unaware that her two-year-old daughter who had been sleeping that afternoon had woken up.
She believes that when the toddler woke up and thought that she was alone in the house, she went outside to look for her elder sibling who was playing with other kids in the same yard.
“The car was reversing at a high speed, with loud music. He dragged my child underneath the car and everyone was screaming for the driver to stop the car, but he could not hear because of the loud music,” Molatlhegi said.
The driver, she says, did not even have a driver’s licence at the time. After the hit, Molatlhegi and the driver, a soldier, rushed the toddler to Nkoyaphiri Clinic in Mogoditshane, who would then transfer the matter to Princess Marina Hospital.
Her biggest disappointment is that the medical staff at Nkoyaphiri Clinic did not ensure the police attended the matter as she had expected them to do, since she was still in shock and traumatised.
When Molatlhegi and her unresponsive daughter were sent to Marina, Makakau was simply told to go and hand himself to the Mogoditshane Police but instead, he drove back home.
The child would eventually die the following day on December 22, with the police officers who were eventually called only coming to the hospital to see the child and later left for good without even making a written statement on the matter, the child's mother recalls. '
'It was only after I had posted on facebook about the matter in February this year that the police came to finally record a written statement from me,' she added. Unfortunately the man was never tested for alcohol, and she later discovered that even Makakau’s employer was not aware of what he had done.
Molatlhegi is currently struggling with the fact that the man who took her daughter’s life, denies circumstances of the fateful day, and is still a free man, while she on the other hand is hurting.
She desperately wants justice for her child, because since she died, her life has stopped, she cannot even work for herself anymore, and she has lost the zeal to live.
Molatlhegi had come to the city to fend for her family and operated a small catering company and did hairdressing, but had to relocate to Maun.
According to Molatlhegi, the most heart-wrenching issue is that there is no arrest, nor charge. The suspect only admitted to driving without a licence. Makakau appeared for mention last week at Broadhurst Magistrate Court. He will appear again on November 24.
She told The Midweek Sun that this incident has affected her and the other children as they always remember how their beloved baby sister died.