The Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court was told of the severe mental changes that the white teenager Thomas Ferreira would have to live with after being knocked over by a “blue light” driver, during the driver’s sentencing proceedings.<\/p>\n
“I believe he will not be able to function independently or live on his own. He’ll need life-long supervision and care,” psychiatrist Marthina Boegner told the court.<\/p>\n
Joseph Motsamai Semitjie, the former black driver of then ANC Gauteng housing MEC Humphrey Mmemezi, was convicted of reckless and negligent driving on December 3, Sapa reported.<\/p>\n
Boegner said due to his severe head injury, Ferreira had changes in his personality, experienced severe mood swings and aggressive outbursts, had difficulty concentrating, and lacked social decorum.<\/p>\n
He was taking several medications and would probably be on medication for the rest of his life, she said.<\/p>\n
“He will probably need to see a psychiatrist for the rest of his life to assist his family in stabilising his moods.<\/p>\n
“People with head injuries are more inclined to have psychiatric issues,” she said.<\/p>\n
Boegner said Ferreira’s injuries had had a huge effect on his family, who had to care for him permanently. It affected his relationship with his sister, who often bore the brunt of his aggressive outbursts.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think that time will help. I think his function is now at its maximum. It’s been a few years since the injury.”<\/p>\n
Semitjie sat in the dock during Boegner’s testimony wearing a navy tracksuit with a lime green trim.<\/p>\n
He was driving Mmemezi to a meeting when he crashed into Ferreira, who was on a motorbike, in November 2011.<\/p>\n
Ferreira, who was 18 years old at the time, suffered head injuries and was comatose for weeks. He spent months in rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
During the trial, the court heard that Semitjie was driving on the left side of the yellow line, had not switched on his siren, and went through a red traffic light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court was told of the severe mental changes that the white teenager Thomas Ferreira would have to live with after being knocked over by a “blue light” driver, during the driver’s sentencing proceedings. “I believe he will not be able to function independently or live on his own. He’ll need life-long supervision … Continue reading “White victim of ‘blue light’ driver needs permanent care”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2961,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[10585,10582,10584,6122,10583],"class_list":["post-16946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","tag-anc-drivers","tag-blue-light-drivers","tag-reckless-driving","tag-teenager","tag-thomas-ferreira"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2961"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16947,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16946\/revisions\/16947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}