Killer taxi driver shot dead

A TAXI driver who caused the deaths of six pupils in a horror crash seven years ago was shot dead in broad daylight at the weekend.

Ralton van Rooyen – who gained notoriety when he lost control of his speeding 15-seater taxi in which he had crammed 22 pupils, before the bridge at Van der Kemp’s Kloof on September 10 2007 – died at the scene of the shooting.

Van Rooyen was shot in the back of his head, chest and back while in his taxi at William Slammert Drive in Bethelsdorp on Saturday. He was 33.

His assistant, whom the police would not name, was shot in his left arm, but he survived the attack, spokesman Warrant Officer Alwin Labans said yesterday.

"The 20-year-old man was admitted to Livingstone Hospital and came out the same day," Labans said, but he refused to release the man's name.

 - Xolisa Phillip