Well-known Joburg LGBTQ socialite dies after hijacking

Derick Ward, 36, of Johannesburg, died at the weekend of wounds he sustained during a hijacking in Roodepoort West on Tuesday last week.

His friend of 17-years, Monique Walker, told Gay SA Radio exclusively that Derick went to buy a chocolate at the local garage when the hijacking occurred. “Derick was a smoker and had his window open at the time,” she said.

The hijackers reportedly bundled Derick into his car’s boot and severely assaulted him. He was also stabbed in the chest with a screwdriver before he was dropped off next to the road in Maraisburg. Monique said he managed to walk to a nearby garage and called his parents for help.

His parents fetched him and brought him home, but he did not seek immediate medical attention.

According to Monique his parents took him to the police station to press charges with the SAPS. However, on Friday, he started getting chest pains.

Derick was rushed to the Garden City Clinic for x-rays, but doctors could not see anything wrong with him. Monique said that on Saturday morning he apparently had multiple heart attacks, of which the last was fatal.

Pretoria Pride organiser, Bruce Walker, said Derick “was on the scene for a long time. He worked at British American Tobacco and was the life of nearly all events.”

Bruce added that Derick was always dressed to kill at any pride, from Pretoria to Durban, to Cape Town.

Derick sponsored a trophy that Gay SA Radio and Pretoria Pride gave to Home Affairs Minister, Malusi Gigaba two years ago, following a decision to ban hate speech pastor, Steven Anderson, from entering South Africa.

The cause of Derick’s death is still unknown and police investigations are continuing.