Drag race ends in death of youth

LERATO MALEKE
Correspondent | Tuesday May 28, 2013 00:00

 

MOCHUDI: 'Alcohol, car racing and spinning do not go together.'  These are the words of the uncle of a young man who ended up dead after he and his friends paid no heed when the elder warned them to stop playing with cars as if they were toys.The nephew is reported to have been driving a Nissan GX 3000 with friends who had earlier gone on a drinking spree associated with month-end.

According to an eyewitness at Masakeng Bar, their vehicle was laden with a variety of alcoholic beverages. The young man lies dead in a mortuary at age 30 while a 26-year-old friend of his is in a critical condition at Deborah Retief Memorial Hospital's ICU. This is the end of a drag race in which these young men were joined by their friends spinning in old model BMWs that are popularly known as matchbox or kusheshe. The daredevil racing and spinning reportedly went into the wee hours of Sunday along the new Mochudi-Morwa road in the vicinage of Masakeng Bar.The tragic end came at approximately 0200 hours when the young man who was at the steering wheel at the time - one of four in the Nissan - failed to negotiate a curve.

According to another eyewitness, the wild adventure that courts fate had started a couple of hours earlier at Bee Six Bar at Phaphane.  It headed for Mokgoro Bar for more antics before the furious fair went for a final showdown with hell at Masakeng Bar.'The convivial crowd cheered the boys on while an uncle warned that the boys were risking their lives,' the eyewitness said.'At some stage, the police were called and tried their luck to track the boys, but their Subaru or their skill proved inferior to the young men and their Nissan GX 3000. Until, that is, the police found the Nissan impaled on a power post and made the horrible discovery of the dead young man in the passenger seat, his bloodied brain dripping out his fractured skull.

The eyewitness said after failing to negotiate a curve, the Nissan flattened an electric pole and ran through a residential yard before it stopped at the second power post. 'Fortunately the car did not hit the house, though it destroyed the fence from one corner to another,' said the eyewitness.The Commander of Mochudi Police Station, Superitendent Simon Sitale, has confirmed the accident and explained that a third occupant of the Nissan was lucky to escape with minor lacerations.Meanwhile, a 40-year-old man is in a critical condition at Deborah hospital after he was stabbed with a sharp instrument at Bela Bela Farms. Sitale said a suspect is in police custody after handing himself in.Still in Mochudi, a 32-year-old taxi driver was robbed of a cell phone and cash amounting to P1,600 and by passengers who had asked him for a special fare. Sitale said the 'passengers' then drove away in the vehicle that was found a kilometre away from the scene of the crime.