York Street accident: Memorial service for victim

GEORGE NEWS - A memorial service will be held at the George Civic Centre at 13:00 on Thursday for Dino Paulse (23), one of the young men who died in the horrific accident in York Street early Sunday morning.

Dino was an intern at the George Municipality Libary Services and the son of Allen Paulse, municipal manager of the Oudtshoorn Municipality and former mayor of Paarl.

Dino and two friends, Michael van Reizig (23) and Devon du Preez (22) died when the car they were travelling in crashed into a tree near the George Skatelab at about 02:30.

Trevor Botha, George municipal manager, conveyed the organisation’s condolences to the three families. “Please know that you are in our prayers. George is a close knit community and our deepest and heartfelt condolences go out to the families,” said Botha.

Walter Hendricks, director of Community Services, said Dino made valuable inputs during his short time at the municipality. “He had a remarkable ability to grasp the particular business we are in i.e. service delivery to our community. He has in the short period left a legacy in that he has spearheaded and introduced the Britannica Online Awareness Programme for juniors, students and adults with regards to research, school assignment completion and work projects.”

Dino’s immediate superior, Rachel Williams, manager of Library Services, described him as a joyful person that made everyone around him happy.

Mazars Garden Route where Michael worked as a trainee accountant, said he will be sorely missed. “We say goodbye to a dear colleague and friend. He was a great guy and a very promising CA. He lit up our team with his fun attitude and sincere heart. It was a privilege to know such a smart young gentleman with good manners,” said his colleagues. Both Michael and Devon are former learners of York High School.

At Motion Fitness, colleagues of Devon held a moment of silence on Monday. He had been working at the gym for the past seven months.

Paul Kelly, manager at Motion Fitness said Devon’s death came as a big shock to them. “At work you spend so much time together, sometimes more than with your own family, and colleagues become like family. His death is a great loss. He was a great guy, a very caring person. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this very difficult time.

"Although Devon worked for us for seven months we saw the love, passion and professionalism in Devon from his first day, soft caring nature that has left a hole in our hearts! He will always be remembered at Motion Fitness and our entire team stands behind his family during this difficult time. A minute of silence was held at all the Motion Fitness clubs across SA as well as our head office which shows how Devon touched our lives."