Torment of dad whose pregnant daughter lost her baby and was left brain-damaged after crash

It was a peaceful Sunday on the Free State cattle farm when the phone rang at 12.30pm. When Steyn Lombard answered the call he struggled to process what he was hearing.

No, it was impossible. It just couldn’t be.

Just the day before he’d chatted on the phone with his five-months-pregnant daughter, Marioné van Deventer (25), who lived in Reitz and she’d assured him she and her baby, her first child, were doing well.