SA bridge arrest: Dad praises police

DURBAN – The father of Durban teacher Kavisha Seevnarain, who was thrown off a bridge at the weekend, has praised the police for arresting three suspects.

Three men, one of them a teenager, were arrested in connection with the hijacking of Kavisha, who was thrown off the bridge on the N2 highway near Umkomaas in the early hours of Saturday morning.Her father, Jeewan Seevnarain, told News24 on Wednesday morning that he was very happy that three people had been arrested – and police are close to arresting another three.’I have faith that the judiciary of our country will give them the punishment befitting the crime,’ he said. ‘What they have done is a heinous act and is totally unacceptable.’’We will be assisting the police in any way possible,’ Seevnarain said.He added that his daughter was in a stable condition.’There is a team of doctors monitoring her progress,’ he said.He said that she had injuries to her lungs due to the fall, and needed assistance in breathing.Police spokesperson, Superintendent Phindile Radebe said one of the men had been arrested on Monday night, and the other two were arrested late on Tuesday evening.’The three men will appear at the Durban Regional Court, and face charges of carjacking, attempted murder, kidnapping and theft of cash,’ she said.According to the Sunday Tribune Kavisha Seevnarain landed in water no deeper than a dog’s bowl after being thrown from a bridge over the Mkomazi River by hijackers and falling 60m, the equivalent of a 20-storey building.’She told us how, on regaining consciousness and in great pain, she hauled herself by her elbows on to the river bank.’It was raining and pitch dark,’ said her father, Jeewan Seevnarain, recounting how the 26-year-old honours teaching student survived a hijack and attempted murder on Friday night.’Kavisha called out for help and, four hours later, a factory worker walking to work across the bridge heard her and phoned the police,’ he said.Her brother, Kavesh, a doctor, was at a loss to describe his sister’s survival. ‘It is miraculous. Landing in shallow water and surviving is one thing, but even then she would have drowned if she had lost consciousness. And if the tide had not been out, she would have been swept away.’Described as ‘exceptionally strong willed and really positive’, Kavisha is being treated in a Durban hospital for broken ribs and a shattered pelvis.According to SAPS spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane, the Edgewood student was on her way from her Pinetown flat to a friend in Shallcross when she stopped at a red robot.Four men in a car described as either a green Jetta or an Opel Kadett stopped alongside her.’There were four suspects. Two jumped into her car and drove off. The other two forced her into their car and drove around for a few hours. Eventually they headed towards Umkomaas along the N2. They stopped on the Mkomazi River Bridge and threw her over the side,’ he said.The alarm was raised when Seevnarain did not arrive at her friend’s home. – News24/Sunday Tribune