Mariental farmer Meyer breaks silence

Mariental farmer Johan Meyer, who faces a criminal and a civil case over the killing of Hendrina Mupolo, a nine-year-old girl he ran over with his bakkie last year, says he tried to avoid the accident.

Commenting publicly on the incident for the first time in a witness statement filed in the High Court on Friday, Meyer said Mupolo, who died in hospital on the same day she was hit by his car, was hiding in a field when she suddenly jumped in front of the famer’s Land Cruiser, leading to the fatal accident.

Meyer is being sued for N$5 million by the girl’s father, Elia Mupolo, who is represented by lawyer Norman Tjombe.

Deadly chase

In an affidavit, Meyer stated that the girl was part of a group of people who were stealing beans from his farm and whom he was chasing away from his land.

"We drove on the road between the bean fields up to the end of the bean fields, where I stopped the vehicle. The person nearest to my vehicle was a male with a blue T-shirt. I yelled at him, saying, ‘what are you doing here? You should not be here; you should leave my bean field’," Meyer recalled.

"The people sometimes hide between the trees at the river to await a chance to steal the beans. When the male started running away, I drove to a female who was also busy stealing beans," he added.

"There was also another group of people to the left front of my vehicle, approximately 40 to 50 metres away. They were also busy stealing beans. When I saw them, I started turning to the left in order to also order them to leave the bean fields."

Too late

He said it was at that moment that Hendrina jumped from where she was hiding behind the windrow that Meyer was driving over.

"When she jumped up, she was at the immediate front of the bakkie. She tried to run away but slipped on the leaves of the bean plants and fell down in front of the bakkie. When I first saw the child jumping up, she was approximately one metre from the front of the bakkie," the farmer recounted.

"As soon as I saw her, I immediately swerved to the left and applied brakes. When the vehicle came to a standstill, I jumped out and approached the child, where she was lying on the ground."

Contradictions

An eyewitness to the accident, Maria Shiyukifeni, contradicted Meyer’s version in her witness statement, saying the farmer chased Hendrina until he ran over her with his vehicle.

She said Hendrina’s mother, Anna-Marie !Aochamus, "was shouting frantically for the girl to run faster towards her as the car was fast approaching."

She said "the girl was also screaming and crying as she was running. The car was, however, very fast, and it hit the girl before she could reach the mother," she stated.

Meyer was subsequently charged with culpable homicide and is out on bail of N$3 000.