Alleged cyclist killer’s trial over before it begins

The disappointment was palpable yesterday when a case on the death of former rugby captain and well-known cyclist Gerhard Mans Senior was struck off the roll in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court.

"We just hoped for a fair trial. Even if he walked away with a fine, we just wanted justice to be served,” Sarie Mans, Gerhard Senior’s widow, said of Jafet Paulus, the man who allegedly killed her husband.

By the time the case was thrown out, more than two years after the accident, Paulus reportedly still had not pleaded.

Gerhard Senior died in May 2022 in an accident on the Western Bypass where he and his son, Gerhard Junior, were cycling. Paulus was allegedly on his phone while driving and, according to the first information from the accident scene, hit Gerhard Senior with his BMW sedan when he swerved to the left.

"It wasn't an accident to us," Sarie said, adding that her family feels that the State has let them down. "There was just nothing from the State," she said.

She shared that they plan to pursue the matter in civil court. "Someone's life has been taken,” she stressed.



Disappointing process

According to Sarie, this is not the only case in which the State is failing citizens. “That’s probably why people are procrastinating, because they know they can get away with it.”

The family's legal representative Francois Erasmus explained that the matter was struck from the roll because a clerk who stood in for the prosecutor could not prove to magistrate Wilka Amalwa that any witnesses had been summoned to testify. This despite the fact that the trial was postponed by almost a year last October.

"What justifiable reason can you give that, after a year, you didn't subpoena the witnesses? They have the witnesses' addresses - it's a simple process, it's a document. One of the people who witnessed the accident, their address and phone number is there - you just have to call him," Erasmus said.

He added that the State does not have enough capacity to give sufficient attention to all criminal trials. "It is a very disappointing and ineffective process," he said.

Erasmus confirmed that Paulus was civilly sued yesterday morning in the magistrate's court for the loss Sarie suffered after the accident. "Apparently he refused to sign it, but the sheriff reportedly put the documents at his feet and let him know that he had been subpoenaed," he said.

He insisted that they will bring a criminal case against Paulus again when the State has its affairs in order. "It's not just Sarie Mans. There are so many other people who have been failed by the system," Erasmus said.



Left a void

Gerhard Senior’s death left a void in sports circles where he was actively involved in cycling and rugby throughout his life.

He was the first rugby captain for an independent Namibia. Under his leadership, Namibia won two tests against Ireland and Italy. Between 1990 and his last international appearance in 1994, he scored 26 tries in 27 tests - which stood as the national record until 2018 when Chrysander Botha first equaled and then surpassed the feat.

After his school days at Wennie du Plessis in Gobabis, Gerhard Senior pursued his studies in Bloemfontein and also played there for the Free State from 1982 to 1984.

When news of his death broke, Johan Zaayman, a much younger player who represented Namibia in his 1999 World Cup debut, said: "Gerhard [Senior] was the reason many of us dreamt of big things, to be able to be like him”.

“I can’t believe it,” he said at the time.

After his rugby days, Gerhard Senior, an insurance broker at FNB Namibia, also made progress in older age groups as a cyclist. Among other things, he completed the Nedbank Desert Dash as a solo rider - despite a mechanical setback in the evening hours of the race that forced him to cover several kilometres on foot alongside his bike before he could get assistance at the next checkpoint.



Cyclists not safe

Gerhard Senior is not the first cyclist to lose his life in an accident. Ingrid van Wyk Scholtz tragically died on 15 November 2019 in a hit-and-run accident on the Western Bypass, and Olympic cyclist Michelle Vorster was seriously injured in an accident in April 2019.

The trial of Paulus Kambata began in September last year in connection with Van Wyk Scholtz's death.

Mannie Heymans of Mannie's Bike Mecca described the events surrounding Gerhard Senior’s trial as "very sad".

"For me, it's not easy. I don't understand the law and I don't understand how something like this can happen," he said.

"It feels like we [cyclists] aren't allowed anywhere any more, which isn't true... Motorists don't think there's a place for cyclists on our roads and if they see that nothing will happen, then they won't be concerned about the lives of cyclists," Heymans said.

He urged cyclists to keep safety in mind. "There are cases where cyclists are wrong. Ingrid was not wrong and Gerhard [Senior] was not wrong, but cyclists must remember that they are vulnerable, and it does not matter if you were right or wrong when something happens to you.”