The National Prosecuting Authority informed AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit that it will be prosecuting – on murder charges – the driver of the vehicle that crashed into the car in which Ruan Coen (26) and Jessika Kennedy (25) were driving on 23 December 2017. Ursula Kors, Coen’s mother, approached AfriForum after she made inquiries into the state of the investigation and was informed that the dossier had gone missing.
The accused will now appear for the first time in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on 29 April 2021. The docket against the accused, who was presumably drunk as well as under the influence of drugs, allegedly disappeared from the Silverton police station. AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit worked closely with Col. Werner Everson from the Silverton detective branch and Sgt Piet Ferreira from the Sinoville detective branch to recompile the docket so that the accused can be prosecuted.
Soon after their engagement, Coen and Kennedy returned on the N4 to Pretoria from White River. The accused drove in the opposite direction, lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the couple’s car. Both were killed outright. The accused sustained only minor injuries and according to eyewitnesses he joked with police members who were at the scene.
“AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit is grateful to Col. Everson and Sgt Ferreira for their hard work and cooperation in ensuring that justice prevails. It is a matter of deep regret, however, that dockets can go missing so easily and that the accused would have gotten off scot-free, had we not intervened. This after he allegedly caused the deaths of two young people,” says Natasha Venter, Advisor at AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit.
According to Ursula Kors and Desmond Coen, Ruan’s brother, the family is grateful that the case can now serve before the courts. “I want to thank our Heavenly Father and all parties involved from the bottom of our hearts. Thanks to AfriForum and the investigation team and their hard work of over three years, the new docket has at last been recompiled. Their dedication and perseverance mean that the accused will eventually be brought to book for the lives of two young people that he has taken from us. We have no words to express our gratitude to everyone involved, because what once looked impossible has now been made possible,” Ursula Kors says.