The accused should’ve helped the Coligny boy, but didn’t, police say

The officer mandated to supervise the investigation into the death of a 16-year-old boy who was allegedly thrown off a moving vehicle in Coligny, Clement Kgorane, reiterated on Wednesday morning that the accused should have stopped and rendered assistance to the injured.

Kgorane said as an investigator, he expected the accused to either call the police or anyone ambulance under normal circumstances. He said the accused were also not permitted to remove the vehicle from the accident scene by law.

“The accused didn’t call for help but instead told the police to go and do their job, as they had other businesses to attend to.

“They just went to the police to tell them to go to the accident scene,” he sad. Kgorane said the accused were involved in the accident and therefore had to accompany the police back to the crime scene.

He questioned why the vehicle was not even handed over to the police, as it formed part of the investigation. The defence asked him what were the accused supposed to do, but Kgorane said he had already indicated to the court what the law required them to do.

Defence attorney Hennie du Plessis said the accused could not do anything, as they were not medical expects. Kgorane said if he was in the position of the accused, he would have called the emergency services using his cellphone as well as the police while remaining at the crime scene.

“And if there are circumstances where I can’t phone the police, I would have taken the injured with care to the police station and then go back to the crime scene with the police,” he said.

Du Plessis said on April 20, the accused were busy with their farming activities, but upon their return en route Coligny, they noticed two boys stealing sunflowers from Peter Karsten’s plantation.

“They managed to arrest one of them, neither accused number one or two lifted their hand on the boy, and the second boy ran away through the plantation, making it impossible to arrest him. They then ordered the child they arrested on to the bakkie with the intention of taking him to he police. ”

Du Plessis said the accused employed by Karsten managed to arrest other suspects from stealing. “Within the latest year, on three occasions, they were contacted by general farmworkers and managed to arrest several suspects.

“After apprehending the child, they decreased speed in order to turn, and at the time the accused jumped off the bakkie … they immediately turned back and found the child unconscious.”

Du Plessis further read to the court that the accused were shocked about what had happened in light of the fact that accused did not have knowledge about emergency services and made a conscious decision to go and seek help. “It is further their version that after realising the child lying unconscious, they saw two people walking in the same direction towards town and stopped them and told them to look after the child.

“The accused saw the two rushing towards the child, and upon arrival at the police station, they sought help from the police and described where the incident took place. ”

The accused the police officer they spoke to only asked them for their contact details and that at no stage were they asked to leave their vehicle. Du Plessis said the accused maintained they were the only witnesses at the crime scene when the incident happened.

Asked if he wanted to respond to the accused’s version, Kgorane said the witness would be available to testify.