The matric meisie killed by a suspected drunk driver in Bonteheuwel was laid to rest on Saturday.
A packed New Apostolic Church bid farewell to Tatum Hendricks.
The 18-year-old from Mitchells Plain was killed when she was on her way to visit her mother in Bontas last Sunday.
Tatum was hit with such force that her body was flung on to the roof of a nearby house. She died in hospital. Another person was injured in the accident.
Speaking to the Weekend Argus, Tatum’s grandmother Wilma Jacobs, 65, said she was having a difficult time coming to terms with the teen’s death, and the release of the suspect on bail had made her feel worse.
“Tatum grew up with me. She was my child, and [the suspect] took her away like that, and then we are expected to be satisfied. Is that fair to us?
“She had a bright future ahead of her, but it has come to an end,” she said crying.
A drum majorette marching band formed a guard of honour as the casket left the church.
Tatum’s friend Cassidy van Neel described the girl as a loving person, while sports co-ordinator at Spine Road High and former coach Judith Fransman-Booyse said the pupil was an active person.
“I started knowing her through athletics, and thereafter she joined the marching squad, and then the girls’ rugby. She was a very sporty young lady.”
Gershwin Jacobs, 32, who was charged with culpable homicide and reckless driving after the collision, is expected back in the Bishop Lavis Magistrate’s Court in February.
He was granted R3 000 bail.
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