Woman (81) seriously injured in fall

AN ELDERLY Westcliff mother suffered severe injuries — including a broken hip, shoulder, elbow and kneecap - after she fell into a hole allegedly caused by a delayed municipal response to a burst water pipe.

- MONISHKA GOVENDER

Her son now wants to pursue legal action against the eThekwini Municipality.

Molly Gordon, 81, had returned home from an outing when she stepped into the hole, situated outside her house gate, in Spoorlyn Road.

Her son Geshen Gordon alleged the hole had formed after the municipality failed to fix a burst pipe from two weeks prior, leading to the tar on their drive-way to give way and form a 1.5-meter deep hole.

He said he made several calls to the council regarding the burst pipe.

“On April 8, the pipe burst outside my home - which is municipal property - and the water was flowing. I made many calls to the municipality. All they told me was that they would fix it in 2 to 24 hours. But that never happened. Every time I followed up about the repair, the operator asked for my reference number and nothing came of it.

“The hole literally formed before my eyes. I watched as the water flowed in the hole after the tar gave way,” said Gordon.

He said on her return home, his mother had forgotten about the hole.

“In the evening my cousin dropped off my mother at home. She decided to walk around the car and forgot about the hole. It was dark and the water was still flowing, when she stepped into it and fell to her side.

“My cousin went to help her and she also fell in and was injured on her toe,” he said.