Tributes paid to gran killed in car crash in South Africa

Joan Fulford died in South Africa after her car collided with another vehicle

The grandmother-of-six had attended the funeral of her brother, Teddy Wicht, and was travelling with her best friend and her sister-in-law when the accident happened.

Her children - sons Paul, John and George - flew out to Cape Town for a funeral service, and they also attended a memorial service at the St Cyprian's School, which Mrs Fulford attended as a child.

Colleen Gillet, one of her schoolmates at St Cyprian's, and a lifelong friend, paid tribute to Mrs Fulford, describing her as "a wonderful lady".

"It is hard to speak about it really, but she was just a wonderful person," she said: "She was in my sister's class, and she grew up here in Cape Town, before she went over to Scotland, got married and settled down.

"She still came back very regularly to see her family, and she had come over to attend the funeral of one of her brothers when this accident happened."

The accident happened in an area known as the De Vaal split just outside Cape Town on September 16, when the car Mrs Fulford was travelling in collided with a BMW and burst into flames.

Local reports said emergency staff arrived on the scene to find the car "totally engulfed" in flames. They were able to get the women out, and a doctor tried to revive Mrs Fulford but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The two other women were also seriously injured and were put on life-support and taken to a nearby hospital for further treatment. They have since been released.

Reports said the driver of the BMW was uninjured in the crash, and it is understood he has been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.

Widow Mrs Fulford, who lived in Murrayfield, was a member of the local Church of the Good Shepherd, and a funeral service will be held there on Monday, October 11, at noon.

The family have asked that donations rather than flowers be given in memory of Mrs Fulford. In a statement, they said: "Donations in memory of Joan may be made to Mothers2Mothers at www.m2m.org.

"This is an organisation that works across Africa to break the cycle of HIV infection from mother to child, in which HIV positive mothers who have raised healthy children mentor expectant mothers in a similar situation.

"This was a cause close to Joan's heart due to a chance encounter in South Africa with a young woman on a train who had fallen pregnant and contracted HIV as a result of being raped, who opened up to her about her fears for her unborn child.

"This woman later said that Joan was the first person she had ever told about her situation, and Joan was aware that this was an extraordinary act due to the stigma attached to rape and HIV."