- The City of Johannesburg will have to pay a hefty sum for an act of negligence that changed a young lady's life forever.
- The Johannesburg High Court ruled that the city should fork out over R7m after a woman was permanently blinded after falling into an open manhole
- The woman was walking to her 16th birthday party on 24 August 2019 when the incident happened
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JOHANNESBURG - The City of Johannesburg will have to pay a woman millions of rands in damages after an accident involving an uncovered maintenance hole.
The Johannesburg High Court awarded the woman R7 million after she suffered severe head injuries and was permanently blinded after she fell into a manhole. The woman was also pregnant when the incident happened.
The victim, referred to as TN in court papers after she fell into the maintenance hole on her 16th birthday on 24 August 2019, BusinessDay reported.
Johannesburg woman's life changed forever after falling into an uncovered manhole
The court heard how TN's life forever changed when she was walking to her birthday party at her aunt's house with her mother and brother.
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The road was dark at the time because the streetlights were not working, unaware of the open manhole, TN fell into it.
She sustained an open and bleeding wound to the back of her head and injured her arm and leg. TN's injuries resulted in her suffering bilateral blindness, constant headaches and seizures. When her baby girl was born, her burly vision and headaches developed into total blindness.
Joburg woman forced to give up school and unable to take care of child
TN testified that after the fall and subsequent injuries, she could not finish school, and her dreams of becoming an accountant were dashed.
The woman said that she could not look after her child and had to rely on her mother and father just to get by, SowetanLIVE reported.
Reading the judgement, acting judge AM van der Merwe described TN as a brave young woman.
Van der Merwe said The city should pay R1 million in general damages, R3.7 million for future loss of income and R3.1 million for future medical expenses and care, bringing the total damages up to R7,828,829.50.
The city was also ordered to play for all TN's legal costs.
Man who tried to cheat wife from getting 50/50 share in divorce loses court bid after kids defend mom
In another story, Briefly News reported that divorces could be challenging, and in some cases, spouses try to cheat each other and get more than they deserve out of the marriage.
One man, identified as Mr M in court papers, tried to get a forfeiture order against his wife, who he had married through customary law in the 1980s.
According to IOL, Mrs M filed for divorce at the Bloemfontein High Court after over two decades of marriage. In court papers, the wife believed she was owed a 50/50 share of the joint estate because she and Mr M were married in community of property.
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