A Cape family is “overwhelmed” at the outpouring of sympathy following the death in a car accident of their son Jake Wootton.
|||A Table View family is “overwhelmed” at the outpouring of sympathy following the death in a car accident of their son Jake Wootton, head boy of Milnerton High School.
His father, Steve Wootton, said they had known their son had influenced many of his friends and classmates, but was surprised to find out just how popular he was.
“We’ve had hundreds of messages, the support he’s had has been overwhelming,” said Wootton.
The 18-year-old head boy was struck by a car in Hermanus on Saturday around midnight, while walking on the side of the road with friends. Jake was fatally injured and died in Vincent Pallotti Hospital, the same hospital in which he was born over 18 years ago.
While Jake was in the hospital, about 150 of his friends and other pupils from Milnerton High School gathered to wait for news about his condition.
“The nurses had never seen anything like it,” said Wootton. “ICUs generally allow 2-3 visitors, but there would be 10-15 children gathered around his bed. Each one would sit there and tell a story about Jake, one at a time.”
Police spokesman Frederick van Wyk confirmed the accident was being investigated as “culpable homicide”.
“We said goodbye to him (Sunday) at three o’clock. We donated his organs… He was a giver, not a taker,” said Wootton.
Milnerton High School principal Paul Besener spoke about Jake’s involvement as head boy.
“He was the head of the Adventure Club, an athlete and an academic.” Jake had “all the right morals”, Besener continued. “He was socially acute and made a huge impact. He had very little prejudice and was friends with everyone.”
An active teenager with a passion for the ocean, Jake loved body boarding, swimming and scuba diving.
Jake was the head of the Adventure Club at school and planned to spend four months as a lifesaver in Britain before studying for an electrical engineering degree. “He studied hard and he played hard,” said Wootton. “Academically he was doing very well.”
Jake’s friends and classmates have turned to social media to express their love and respect for him.
abigail.dennis@inl.co.za
Cape Times