Families of slain Top Billing presenters share pain and loss at sentencing hearing

The families of late Top Billing presenters Simba Mhere and Kady-Shay O'Bryan on Friday shared their grief in the sentencing hearing of the driver found guilty of causing their deaths in a car accident.

"Twenty nine years‚ 22 days is all the time I had with my sister in this world. While I cherish every one of the days I had with her‚ how many memories could have been made in the days‚ months‚ years to come had you not taken her from us‚" Duane O'Bryan said in a statement he read out in the Randburg Magistrate's Court on Friday.

"One second is all it took for Kady and Simba to leave this world. One second and a negligent act by a person who has showed zero remorse or sorrow for what you have taken from us and the Mhere family.

"We were extremely close‚" he told the court‚ recounting how he and O'Bryan‚ who was three years older than him‚ used to text each other "when one of our songs came on or if either was lonely and needed a chat".

Mhere and O'Bryan‚ who was a passenger in the car Mhere was driving‚ died at the scene of the accident on William Nicol Drive in Fourways‚ Johannesburg‚ on January 31‚ 2015.

During the trial‚ the court heard evidence from a tracking company that the vehicle had been speeding before the accident. At one stage‚ it was travelling at 166km/h along William Nicol Drive.

During judgment‚ magistrate David Mahango found that Naidoo's version that the car he was driving on the morning of the accident had a mechanical defect was fabricated and improbable.

Mahango also rejected the evidence of the defence's accident reconstruction expert that speed could not have caused the accident and that it was as a result of a missing nut in the right-front suspension of Naidoo's car.

Norman Wessels‚ who was in relationship with Kady-Shay‚ told the court they had a young child who now lives with him in Paulshof‚ northern Johannesburg.

Defence advocate Francois Roets asked whether Wessels would accept financial assistance from Naidoo for the next five years.

Wessels said: "Yes it would help‚ if that's the decision the court makes."

He added that he would not oppose any sentence given to Naidoo by the court and that he did not hold a grudge against him.

In a statement read out by the state‚ Mhere's mother Angela said she had lost a child as well as a friend and business partner.

"I miss his voice‚ his place in the house‚ and his hugs."

She said her love for her son grew stronger every day.

"I don't speak about him in the past tense."

- TimesLIVE