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Johannesburg - Silence Mabunda, the Limpopo man who was allegedly run over by Mark Scott-Crossley in an apparent racist attack, said he must rot in jail, after Scott-Crossley handed himself over to police on Wednesday.
Mabunda spoke to News24 after the news that Scott-Crossley had handed himself over to police after being on the run since December.
"I feel relieved that he is arrested, because I was living in fear. Once he was arrested, I know he will rot in jail," Mabunda, 37, told News24 on Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier this month, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said a warrant of arrest had been issued on December 21 for Scott-Crossley. He is facing a charge of attempted murder.
In December, News24 reported that Mabunda, an employee at the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, had opened a case against Scott-Crossley after he allegedly grabbed and smashed Mabunda's cellphone in Hoedspruit, Limpopo.
Mabunda claimed that Scott-Crossley had attacked him at a shop while he was buying airtime there in December.
READ: Mark Scott-Crossley hands himself over to police
'Because I don't like black people'
"As I was leaving the shop, my phone started to ring. Answering my phone, a white guy smashed it to the ground. The cover and screen broke," Mabunda said.
Witnesses apparently identified the man as Scott-Crossley.
"Two other white guys tried to stop him and asked: 'Mark Scott why did you do it?' Mark said: 'Because I don't like black people'.
"I also asked him why he did it and he said: 'Don't speak to me like that, ek sal jou bliksem [I will hit you]'."
Mabunda said as he was heading back to work shortly after the incident outside the shop, the same man drove toward him in a car.
"Around 19:00, a car was driving slowly next to me. I quickly realised that the guy in the car is the one who broke my phone," he said.
The driver turned the car around and it headed straight toward Mabunda.
No forgiveness
After Mabunda was hit and the car drove over him, Mabunda asked someone nearby to phone the ambulance.
"Since the attack, I can't do anything for myself. I am still walking on crutches and I can barely walk on my left leg," Mabunda said.
The father of four said the attack had cost him financially.
"I am unable to work and provide for my wife and kids. We are expecting our fifth child at the end of the month [January]," he said.
Scott-Crossley is expected to appear in the Hoedspruit Magistrate's Court on Friday.
He made international headlines in 2004 when he was convicted for the murder of a worker who he threw into a lion enclosure. He was released on parole in 2008.
Mabunda said he would never forgive Scott-Crossley for the alleged attack.
"He ran over me just because I am a black person. Why didn't he do that to a white person? Only God will forgive him, because I will never," he said.
