Measurements at Mandela crash queried
Zoleka Seakamela, Mandela's grand daughter, leaving the Johannesburg Magistrate Court. Zoleka's daughter was killed in a car accident in two years ago. The matter was postponed till Thursday. Picture: Mujahid Safodien 17 04 2012 Zoleka Seakamela, Mandela's grand daughter, leaving the Johannesburg Magistrate Court. Zoleka's daughter was killed in a car accident in two years ago. The matter was postponed till Thursday. Picture: Mujahid Safodien 17 04 2012
Measurements taken at the scene of the car crash that killed 13-year-old Zenani Mandela were inaccurate, the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court heard on Friday.
Defence lawyer Ken Oldwadge accused accident investigator Henry Muller of visiting the scene months after the accident and adding to his original sketch.
Muller denied this, and said he stood by what he had written on the night of the crash.
He said he might have made “small mistakes”, but the report was written so that “a reasonable person” could have an understanding of the sequence of events.
The driver of the ill-fated car, Sizwe Mankazana, 25, is on trial for culpable homicide.
Zenani, the great-grand-daughter of former president Nelson Mandela, was asleep on the back seat of the car when it crashed. Her mother is Zoleka, the daughter of Zindzi Mandela.
The vehicle veered out of control on the M1 North just before a double-decker highway that bypasses the city.
Mankazana was taking Zenani home after a World Cup concert at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on June 10, 2010, when the accident happened. They were in a Mercedes-Benz CLS500.
On Friday, Oldwadge picked through the accident report, questioning how the measurements of the accident scene were done.
He was concerned that a street lamp used by Muller for measuring could not be found in any of the photographs.
He accused Muller of returning to the scene of the accident months afterwards, and of using a street lamp that had been installed after the crash.
At one point magistrate Vivian Hawkins reprimanded Oldwadge for making derogatory remarks about the witness under his breath, within his hearing.
Throughout the cross-examination Muller stayed calm and repeatedly explained his understanding of how the accident occurred.
“To soothe my conscience, I returned to the accident scene again the same night with another accident investigator who had come from Durban. We went over the accident again,” he said.
He said he had done his “utter best” to present to the court his experienced opinion of how the crash occurred.
The trial continues on Monday. - Sapa