Pretoria – In 1996, a teenager drove into a huge pothole in Pretoria and her life changed for ever. On Monday – 18 years later – Annemarie Jacobs was awarded R4.2 million in damages from the City of Tshwane.
It was a day of relief for Jacobs, whose medical and legal woes have been intense since that night, a few months after she had finished matric, when she was on her way to the Kolonnade Centre in Montana to go ice skating.
It had been raining and, in the dark, she drove into the pothole in Breedt Street which was full of water. She lost control of her car and collided with a tree.
She was in a coma for two weeks, and her injuries included a badly mutilated leg, multiple fractures and brain damage.
In an unusual case which has dragged on for years, the Tshwane Metro – which is responsible for the city’s roads – has now been ordered to pay her R4.2 million in damages…
South Africa Today – South Africa News
