Thug chaser gets far less

A paramedic who sustained serious brain injuries when a motorist, mistaking him for a hijacker, ran over him, will only get a fraction of his large damages claim against the Road Accident Fund.

A curator acting on behalf of Morné Rossouw, 45, of Krugersdorp, accepted a settlement agreement in terms of which the RAF will pay him R478 000 and gave an undertaking to pay 30% of his future medical costs.

Rossouw’s wife, Elmarie, initially claimed R8.2 million on his behalf after the accident in Roodepoort in July 2015, when a motorist, Charles Graham, ran him down.

Rossouw, who worked overseas for most of his life and thrived on dangerous situations, was apparently chasing suspected house robbers on foot at the time and pointed his firearm at Graham to force him to stop so that he could cross the road to get to the robbers.

Graham said he was convinced that he was being hijacked and ran down Rossouw to save himself and his family because of feared for their safety.

The RAF raised a defence of putative private defence, saying although Graham’s life was not in danger, he reasonably believed it was and acted in the heat of the moment.

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