Cape Town - A 13-year-old Cape Town girl was knocked down and killed just weeks before realising her dream of moving into a new home with her family.
Cheslin Arendse, 13, was walking to her Edward Primary School in Clarke Estate on Friday when she was hit by a taxi and dragged several metres down 35th Street, opposite her Malawi Squatter Camp home.
Witnesses say the driver was speeding in the emergency lane when he mowed her down.
The van hit a barrier and flipped, landing on its side.
When the 27-year-old driver tried to flee on foot, angry residents set his taxi alight.
Police spokesman Captain FC Van Wyk says the driver was later caught and charged with culpable homicide.
“It’s alleged [the driver] knocked a 13-year-old girl while she was crossing 35th Street,” Van Wyk said.
“The child was certified dead on the scene.”
Cheslin’s mother Sesley Arendse, 37, said police caught her youngest child’s alleged killer at a nearby intersection and brought him back to the scene.
“When the Metro police brought him back to the community, I immediately started hitting him.
“Ek het my hand gebreek geslaan op hom (I broke my hand hitting him),” she said showing the cast around her right arm.
“When I arrived at the scene, Cheslin was motionless. She had a slight pulse, I tried talking to her. When help arrived she was already dead.”
Sesley, who has been living in Malawi Camp with her family for eight years, says Cheslin was excited about the prospect of moving into their new home.
“In February my name was selected as part of the next group of people to move (into a new development in Delft),” says the mom of four.
“And about a month ago I qualified for my housing subsidy.
“On that day Cheslin and I went to the shops and we made a list of all the new things we would get for our house.
“Even though I don’t work, I told her to trust in God that we will move into our new home with new things.
“Cheslin was very excited.
“We would be in the new home by December 5 and she was going to spend her first Christmas in our home,” says Sesley.
“It still feels unreal, like she’s not really gone,” she sobs.
Daily Voice