Boy (6) killed on Louis Fourie Road

Update

MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Saturday, 17 October, started like most other weekends for the Sikhupela family of Asla Park in Mossel Bay.

The children played outside and the women were busy in the house.

Little Owethu (6) loved to play with his friends at the play park near his house in Grain Street. He always walked with his brother, Linathi (9), to the swings.

They were used to the area and loved to play in the park, watching the cars drive by on busy Louis Fourie Road.

But last Saturday, at around 11:00, the Sikhupela family changed forever. Owethu was playing in the park, when some of the older children ran across Louis Fourie Road to play in pools of water across the road.

He jumped off the swing and followed Linathi in the same direction.

Owethu only made it halfway over Louis Fourie Road when he was hit by a bakkie.

His body was flung into the air and landed a couple of metres from where he was hit, on the tar road.

"Linathi heard a sound and when he turned around he saw Owethu lying on the ground. He ran to his brother and held Owethu in his arms," their grandmother, Sylvia Sikhupela (68), says as she wipes the tears from her eyes.

Moments after that, some of the children came running to their house, screaming that Owethu was hit by a car.

"We ran there and saw his body lying on the road. I couldn't walk closer. I just turned around and came back to the house," says Sylvia.

The driver of the white bakkie, a 58-year-old man from Cape Town, was shocked.

He was in Mossel Bay for the weekend. He told police he could not stop in time. He now faces a charge of culpable homicide.

Sylvia says the family does not hold a grudge against him.

Owethu's mother, Nompendulo (24), says he loved to pray. "He loved going to church. He was such a kind child. Everybody loved him. He loved to sing church songs. It is really a terrible time for us."

She says Linathi still sees his brother lying on the road. "He gets nightmares and he is not the same child anymore." The family haven't made any funeral arrangements. "We don't have a funeral policy. We don't have money to bury Owethu."

According to the postmortem report, Owethu sustained multiple fractures.

Police are investigating the incident.

Owethu Sikhupela went to a creche in Asla Park and loved playing with his friends.