A Mitchells Plain teenager killed by a suspected drunk driver has been laid to rest by family and friends at the New Apostolic Church on Saturday.
A packed church bid farewell to Taytim-Lee Hendricks who was in matric.
The 18-year-old was killed when she was on her way to visit her mother in Bonteheuwel last Sunday.
She was hit with such impact that her body was flung on to the roof of a house. She succumbed to her injuries in hospital. Another person was injured in the accident.
In a teary interview with the Weekend Argus, her grandmother, Wilma Jacobs, 65, said she was having a difficult time coming to terms with her granddaughter’s death.
She said the release of the suspect on bail had made her feel worse.
“Taytim grew up with me. She was my child, and (the suspect) took her away like that, and then we are expected to be satisfied. Is that is fair to us?”
“He took her away from me and the family. She had a bright future ahead of her, but it has come to an end,” she said crying.
Shortly after the service, drum majorette marching band formed a guard of honour as the casket left the church.
Hendricks’s friend and former classmate Cassidy Jamie-Lee van Neel described the teenager as a loving person.
“I met Taytim when we were doing Grade 8. We were very close and spent most of the time together, and sometimes she would come by my place and sleep over,” she said.
“She was basically family. Our friendship had its ups and downs, but we were always there for each other. I am still in denial about her death. It is really difficult.”
Sports co-ordinator at Spine Road High School and Taytim’s former coach Judith Fransman-Booyse said the pupil was a very active person.
“I started knowing her through athletics, and shortly thereafter she joined the majorette marching squad, and then the girls’ rugby. She was a very sporty young lady.
“It still feels unreal until today. We are a bit in denial because it was a tragic accident and we did not expect to lose one of our own. The loss is unbelievable and unbearable,” she said.
Gershwin Jacobs, 32, who was charged with culpable homicide and reckless driving after the collision, is expected back in the Bishop Lavis Magistrates’ Court in February. He was granted R3 000 bail.
Statistics from the Western Cape Department of Transport showed that 58 of the 78 arrests made last week were for drunken driving, while 10 others were because of reckless and negligent driving.