NATIONAL NEWS - A viral video of a Ladysmith man masturbating in his car while driving on the N3 has sent shock waves through the tiny town of Ladysmith, South Africa.
In the video, a Ladysmith-registered Nissan Qashqai with open windows can be seen roaring past a truck while the truck driver is laughing uncontrollably as he films the driver of the vehicle ‘doing his thing’.
The video was posted on a Facebook group for truck drivers, but soon went viral. The high cab of the truck gave the trucker an open view of what was happening and he filmed the action while the oblivious driver kept going.
By Thursday morning, the video had been viewed over 363,000 times and more than 2500 comments were made. The Facebook comments covered the gamut of emotions from shock and horror to total disbelief. Many, however, saw the funny side of the incident.
With the aid of the colour, make of car and the number plate, it took only a few hours for internet sleuths to identify the driver of the car.
Under South African common law, the man’s acts could qualify as public indecency. The conduct may also violate Section 9 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) amendment act 32 of 2007, which relates to public indecency.
Additionally, Section 63(1) of the National Road Traffic Act explicitly prohibits reckless or negligent driving. Such behaviour could result in criminal charges with severe penalties.*
The man in the video was identified as a senior member of a local school, whose identity is known to the Ladysmith Gazette. The newspaper asked the school for comment and in a reply sent by their legal firm, it was stated that the school was “in no position to confirm whether any incident took place or not, because the video relates to an incident outside of our client’s control and direct knowledge.
“The person that is depicted in the video was certainly not acting within the course and scope of employment with our client. Any linking of this incident to our client will be unlawful, wrongful and defamatory. The whole matter is under consideration by our client.”
The Ladysmith Gazette will follow up on the story once more information becomes available.
The identity of the person involved has been withheld on legal advice.
At the time of publishing, the KZN Department of Education had not responded to questions regarding the incident.
Article: Caxton publication, The Citizen
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