Cape Town - In a tragic twist, the photograph featured on the Cape Argus front page yesterday was the last image taken of motorcyclist Morné du Plessis before he was killed just minutes later while riding home.
The picture was taken between 11pm and midnight last Thursday, when a group of bikers belonging to the Freedom Riders motorcycle club gathered for a fun event at Bob’s Bar in Long Street, to celebrate the birthdays of three founding club members.
Du Plessis was not a member of the Freedom Riders, but a guest at the party. Cape Argus photographer David Ritchie captured a shot of him and another biker, while they were doing burnouts and doughnuts to entertain the crowds on Long Street.
But later when Du Plessis rode his motorcycle home along the N1, he was involved in a crash that took his life.
A close friend, who did not want to be named, said Du Plessis crashed his bike near the Koeberg interchange. No other vehicles were involved, and it was unclear what had caused the crash.
“HE WOULD HAVE FRAMED IT”
His friend said that while it was difficult to see a picture of the victim on the front page after his death, he would have smiled had he been able to see it himself. “Knowing Morné, he would have framed it,” she said.
Meanwhile, the city’s mayco member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, has sent footage of the Freedom Riders’ antics for review by city officials, to make sure they did not warrant a response by authorities.
On Sunday, Smith told the Cape Argus that the CCTV control room had kept a close eye on the bikers, and had judged them not to be committing any violations.
“They left without doing anything that would warrant them being charged,” Smith was told by the control room manager.
Later, after watching the footage, Smith decided to send it to city officials to confirm that law enforcement had in fact responded appropriately to the motorcyclists.
INQUIRIES
He wrote in an e-mail to the officials: “(The control room manager) made inquiries and informed me that the person in charge on Sunday night said that they had the bikers under surveillance the whole time and that their conduct did not merit a police response. After watching the video, I am not so sure. Could you please have a look and let me know if you think the Cyclops acted adequately and if we should not have dispatched Traffic or MPD resources?”
Smith said last night that he had not yet received a response from the officials.
Meanwhile, two teenage drag racers were arrested over the weekend after injuring two metro police officers in a high-speed chase. The two drivers, aged 18 and 15, arrested in Epping, were among 127 suspects taken into custody over the weekend.
The two officers had to receive medical attention after their vehicles was hit by one of the teen drag racers during a chase on Jakes Gerwel Drive in Goodwood on Saturday. The teen sped off after hitting the officers, but was cornered along with the other racer at Gunners Circle in Epping.
Cape Argus