Broken woman wants answers after her son and his friend dies in ‘hit-and-run’

Her Christmas was “shattered”, Christa Pieters says. “Because my Vince wasn’t here,” she explains to YOU.

“I can’t continue with my life until I know what’s happening with the case.  For me, the year ended without answers,” she adds, sounding

Her son, Vincent “Vince” Potgieter (36), and his friend, Daniël “Niel” Hughes (55), were making their way on foot to a Robertson farm on 25 July last year when they were fatally struck by a vehicle around 20:30 just outside the popular Boland wine town, on the McGregor road.

Christa says she’s twice tried unsuccessfully to make contact with the police. 

Robertson police confirmed on Friday that the investigation into the accident was continuing.

“The dossier on the case has been sent to the senior public prosecutor for decision on the way forward,” Mihlali Majikela, provincial spokesperson of Saps in the Western Cape told YOU.

Vince and Niel both lived on the street. Over the years their concerned moms have tried unsuccessfully to keep the men at home. Both wanted to overcome their life as addicts and were looking for full-time employment, possibly on the farm they were heading for at the time of the accident.

Christa says she and Niel’s younger sister, Liesl Hughes, were in daily contact and supporting each other through phone calls.   

“Niel and I also phoned each other regularly,” Liesl told YOU earlier from Hermanus.  “But the last time I saw him was in the year before last,” she said shortly after the tragic incident.

“They were hit at the same time. One on the left and the other on the right.

“Their bodies were found 20 metres away,” she said at the time.

Liesl also hasn’t been able to obtain any new information on the accident, she confirms. Eye witnesses apparently saw what happened, Christa adds.

“What I can remember is that on the day my eldest son went to identify Vince, it was said a video of it was taken,” Christa tells us from Mossel Bay.

“And on that video, taken by eye witnesses, they zoomed in and in got the number plate of the car that was involved.”

Vince died just more than a month after an article with his life story was published in the George Herald.

His dream one day was to drive and own trucks, he said in the interview.

“Vincent still had the newspaper cutting in his backpack. That’s probably how they were able to identify him,” Christa says.

She’s only seeking justice for her son. “I just want to know exactly what happened. We’ve got the outline but I don’t have the details.”