Grieving widow’s poignant letter

THE  wife of a Port Elizabeth cyclist killed by a drunk driver almost two years ago said her husband would have wanted her to forgive his killer.

Anne Morris said she knew she needed to forgive the young man who crashed into her husband of 42 years while driving drunk along Kragga Kamma Road, but that she would do so in her own time.

“I want to forgive this man for what he has done, but my life has been shattered in many ways,” she said in an emotional letter addressed to the Port Elizabeth Regional Court. “It will never be the same, but ultimately God is the judge.”

The letter was used by the state in aggravation of sentence yesterday.

The state has asked the court to sentence Andre Gouws, 28, of Walmer Downs, to eight years in prison.

Gouws, an IT technician, pleaded guilty last month to driving into family man Clem Morris, 66, of Mill Park, while under the influence of alcohol. He said he had fallen asleep behind the wheel and veered on to the wrong side of the road.

Morris had been cycling along Kragga Kamma Road at about 8am on October 7 2012 when Gouws smashed into him. He died at the scene. - Kathryn Kimberley