The man accused of causing the death of Top Billing presenter Simba Mhere and his passenger Kady-shay O’Bryan in a car crash on this day three years ago has been found guilty on two counts of culpable homicide.
The Randburg Margistrate’s Court found that Preshalin Naidoo had acted recklessly and negligently when he took the William Nicol Drive off ramp and crashed into Mhere’s car at high speed.
Naidoo’s car tracking shows that at some points earlier in his journey he reached speeds of 210 kilometres per hour. When he took the William Nicol Drive off ramp from the N1 and crashed into Mhere’s car he was driving at 166 kilometres per hour.
The court did not buy his defence stating that he experienced mechanical problems with his car which resulted in him losing control of the vehicle. Instead, the judge found that this story was far-fetched and likely fabricated.
While one expert witness for the defence testified that Naidoo was travelling at 61.5 kilometres per hour when the collision occurred, the post-mortem results show that both Mhere and O’Bryan died from multiple injuries caused by high speed, high impact and high velocity blunt force trauma consistent with a speeding car.
The court found that human error and not mechanical fault was to blame for the collision and that Naidoo acted recklessly and negligently, without due consideration for other road users who he knowingly placed in danger.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it is pleased with the successful conviction and that they hope this will bring some solace to the families of the deceased while acting as a deterrent for other speedsters. Naidoo will appear in court again on March 9 for sentencing.
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