Cape Town - The wife of slain City of Cape Town traffic officer Deon Sampson said the years that drunk driver Luvu Mlandu spends in prison won’t make a difference to the immense loss her family has experienced.
Lucian Sampson spoke to the media outside the Western Cape High Court, where Acting Judge Raadiyah Wathen-Falken ordered Mlandu to serve a 25-year sentence following a plea and sentence agreement with the State.
He was found guilty of murder, attempted murder, driving under the influence and failure to render assistance.
A distraught Lucian said she was in the process of healing but that it doesn’t get any easier.
“I don’t think this is closure, this is a move in the direction of closure. I don’t want to be bitter. My husband would say this is a slap on the wrist but that is our justice system,” she said.
Mlandu drove into Sampson with his taxi and dragged Sampson’s body several metres as he lost grip while holding on to the front of the taxi. The incident occurred during a roadblock in Spine Road, Khayelitsha, on August 7, 2020.
Mlandu had accelerated as the vehicle was in line for inspection by traffic officers. When he realised he would be arrested for drunken-driving, he attempted to flee. At the time Sampson was standing in front of the vehicle as officers yelled at Mlandu to stop.
He failed to heed their calls and accelerated, hitting Sampson.
When Sampson’s body dislodged from the taxi, Mlandu continued driving and drove over him. In his attempt to escape arrest, Mlandu also tried to push police and traffic vehicles off the road.
Mlandu’s blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit at the time of the incident. He later admitted that he deliberately accelerated and drove through the roadblock to avoid arrest.
He also had several previous convictions, including culpable homicide and drunken-driving in 2015.
Fellow traffic officers who filled the gallery were brought to tears when principal inspector Adrian Long said Sampson was a devoted husband, a very good father and the best performer.
He also told the court gruesome details of the incident and said: “I heard his bones crack while under the taxi.”
“This driver was stationary, caught up in the tailback and had many minutes to contemplate what decision he was going to take before he was being interviewed. His actions were intentional, even after knocking Officer Sampson over he never made any attempt to stop but just put his foot down as his only intention was to escape.
“While Officer Sampson was under the taxi, it looked like the taxi was driving over bumps or sidewalks and there was no way that the driver could say he was unaware that Sampson was under the vehicle,” Long said.
After proceedings, State prosecutor advocate Esna Erasmus said: “I just want this to be an eye-opener to not only taxi drivers but the public at large, that if they’re on the roads and they’re drunk, they drive recklessly that they can cause the death of somebody else. They can destroy a family and it’s really not worth it.”
Sampson leaves his wife and three children, who had been waiting for their father to return that evening but he never did.