WE NEED THE TRUTH

The daughters of a cyclist who died in mysterious circumstances are considering a private prosecution against their stepdad

- NASIFA SULAIMAN

THEIR mom died screaming as she plunged down a cliff onto the rocks below. That’s all Jasmine Swiel and Kendal Victor know for certain about their mother’s final moments, but they’re determined to uncover the truth about her death.

Terry Wampach-Todd, a champion mountain-biker, was no stranger to the Cederberg mountain paths where she died in 2016, and visited the area regularly to ride.

Her husband, Sean Todd, was the only one with her when she died and an inquest by the Magistrate’s Court in Clanwilliam in the Western Cape found circumstantial evidence of foul play.

The purpose of an inquest is for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to decide if there’s sufficient evidence surrounding a person’s death to warrant a criminal prosecution.

In this case, the inquest found there were inconsistencies in Sean’s account of the events on that fateful day and that he couldn’t explain what caused his wife to fall.

Sean made an application to the high court in Cape Town to have the inquest findings dismissed but his application recently failed.

“The magistrate found that although there were no witnesses to give direct evidence as to how the incident occurred, the available circumstantial evidence strongly indicates foul play and the only person this foul play points at is [Sean],” judges James Lekhuleni and Rosheni Allie said in their judgement.

But Sean intends to appeal the finding in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

When Terry’s daughters first learnt that foul play was suspected they battled to get their heads around it.