A stone-throwing incident more than a week ago has led to a woman recovering from brain surgery and in need of occupational therapy.

On a sunny Friday late morning Gaye Wyngaard and a friend were on their way to visiting a mutual friend at a new house they had built in the Overstrand when a stone suddenly came smashing through the car window, hitting Wyngaard on her head and leaving her fighting for her life due to a life-threatening injury.

“The stone hit me on the left side of the head and I started bleeding,” said Wyngaard as she lay on her hospital bed. “I passed out for about five minutes and when I woke up my friend was driving as fast as she could to Hermanus Hospital.”

On arriving at the hospital she was immediately rushed to the operating theatre. “I had brain surgery on the left side of my brain, which is responsible for speech and language.”

“The impact was severe enough that she had to undergo emergency head surgery to remove bone splinters,” said her husband in correspondence with Hermanus Times. “We are shocked and deeply shaken by this senseless violence on our roads.”

Suspect’s clothing details given to police

According to Wyngaard she and her friend were coming from Cape Town when the incident occurred and in a statement to a Hermanus police officer her friend gave a description of the suspect’s clothing. She described the suspect as bearded and wearing a green beanie, jeans and a beige/brown jacket. According to the police the incident must have occurred in Botrivier en route to Hermanus,” Wyngaard said.

She said she got the impression, from the police officer’s visit, that the matter was not being seen as worthy of priority or urgency.

Hermanus Times, at the time of posting, had yet to receive confirmation from the police that a case had been opened in relation to the incident.

“Drivers must be warned, and local law enforcement needs to take immediate action to secure these entry points before someone loses their life,” Wyngaard’s husband said.

A silly thing to do

While the incident caused a serious injury there were reports on Facebook, unrelated ones, of stones being thrown into the road in Hawston by pedestrians earlier in the month. This could not be confirmed by authorities, but the incident also raised some concern among residents and motorists.

Wyngaard said she just wanted to know from the perpetrator, if caught, why they did it. “After all, for it was such a silly thing to do!”