Truck driver gets seven years

MBOMBELA – The truck driver who pleaded guilty to 24 counts of culpable homicide has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, of which three years had been suspended for five years on condition that he is not found guilty of a similar crime.

When passing the sentence Judge Nomsa Khumalo mentioned that the accused’s punishment should befit the seriousness of the crime as well as the interest of the society who had to deal with the aftermath of his reckless behaviour.

He was also sentenced to three years for contravening the Traffic Management Act. Both sentences run concurrently. The sentencing happened a day after the accused’s long-time legal representative,
Adv Melanie Erasmus, withdrew from the case, apparently because she and her client did not agree on some of its merits.

“I would like to withdraw myself due to reasons I won’t mention in court,” she said and added that Adv Du Plessis would continue with the case. When Khumalo asked if the accused, Mr George Mandlazi (33) agreed to be represented by Du Plessis, he shrugged his shoulders and said he had no choice.
The judge quickly told him that he did have a choice and no one was forcing him to accept the new lawyer. He then agreed and said he would accept him.

Du Plessis then requested a 30-minute break to discuss matters with Mandlazi after which the court proceedings continued normally with the senior social worker, Ms Fikile Ngwamba giving a pre-sentencing report which she had compiled. It included the views of his family, the victims’ families, survivors, community development workers and the ward councillor of Phiva where Mandlazi resides.

According to her report, Mandlazi hadn’t seen the train approach when the accident occurred, but had remembered stopping and looking in both directions before he continued to cross, when he apparently suddenly heard the whistle of the train.

“He doesn’t know what happened, what caused the crash, although he admitted that there was negligence on his part but denied having worn headsets on that day,” said Ngwamba.
She added he was affected by the accident and couldn’t sleep or eat during those early days. “He still can’t cope with the flashbacks of the incident although he has gone for counselling. He had no intention of killing the victims and if there was any other way of avoiding the accident, he would have done it,” reads Ngwamba’s report. “He showed signs of remorse and doesn’t shift the blame onto anyone,” she added.

Ngwamba stated that the accident had caused a tremendous loss to the victims, community and survivors. The report added that most of the victims’ families indicated it was an accident which could have happened to anyone and it was unfortunate that it had happened to him. Others said they still found it difficult to forgive Mandlazi and accused him of failing to follow the rules of the road as they alleged that he hadn’t stopped at the stop sign.

However, Mandlazi’s lawyer argued that his client told the social worker that he didn’t stop, but slowed down at the stop sign.
“No that’s not what I got from him and the interview was done in his mother tongue, siSwati,” said Ngwamba. She added that he indicated doubt in his answers of whether he stopped at the sign or not, to check both sides.