Durban – Sanele Goodness May, the driver of the Sagekal Logistics truck which killed 24 people on Field’s Hill, Pinetown in 2013 has been released from Umzinto Prison.
The truck that May was driving ploughed into four taxis and two cars killing 24 people at the bottom of Field’s Hill at the M13/M1 interchange.
CCTV footage of the horrific crash went viral online, showing the runaway truck mercilessly crashing onto the vehicles.
May was convicted for culpable murder and sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Throughout his trial, May maintained that the truck’s brakes failed before it hit the vehicles.
However, he begged forgiveness from the victims’ families, despite them not blaming him for the crash.
The founder of the Sanele May support group on Facebook, Peace Piche, posted on Wednesday morning that May had been released from Umzinto Prison.
“It’s official – Sanele May has been released from prison. The day we have all been waiting for has arrived. There are no words to describe the elation and he even admitted this morning that it feels like a dream,” she told more than 13,000 members of the support group.
Piche thanked all the people for their support through May’s incarceration.
The owner of Sagekal Logistics, Gregory Govender, was fined R2,000 for failing to maintain a roadworthy vehicle, and R5,000 for hiring May, who was not eligible to work in the country.
May’s release comes at a time when there is much talk about a case of a driver who killed two JMPD officers but escaped jail time.
A drunk Albert Gerhardes Pretorius crashed into a roadblock killing two JMPD officers and injured three others.
Pretorius was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for two counts of culpable homicide, which is wholly suspended for five years on condition that he is not convicted of culpable homicide involving a motor vehicle during the period of suspension.
On the count of driving under the influence of alcohol, he was given an option to pay a R10,000 fine or serve one year in prison.
The sentence outraged the deceased’s families, fellow JMPD officers and the public has been complaining about the outcome.
“If you have money, you don’t go to jail, this is so unfair to us as a family,” said a sister of one of the deceased traffic cop.
