INLSA
VIP protection unit officer Hlanganani Nxumalo makes a call in the dock after being convicted in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrates Court yesterday of unlawfully discharging a gun. His colleague Caiphus Ndlela, who was convicted of reckless and negligent driving, tries to hide his face from the camera.
PICTURE: SHARIKA REGCHAND
One of the two “blue-light bullies” convicted in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges relating to a blue light incident may have to compensate his victims from his own pocket should a civil claim be successful.
VIP protection unit member Hlanganani Nxumalo’s conviction of unlawfully firing a gun on the N3 in November 2008, causing Anuvasen Moodley to crash his car, will now bolster the damages claim against him.
Moodley’s attorney Anthony Irons said yesterday that he had advised his client not to make any comments to the media as a civil claims summons had already been issued.
Moodley and the five other victims are claiming about R300 000 each in damages from Nxumalo, the minister of safety and security, the premier and the MEC for social development. The case was not set down as the criminal matter was still pending.
Yesterday magistrate Chris van Vuuren found Nxumalo not guilty of attempting to murder the six people, saying the State had not proved that he had the intention to kill them.
The driver of the blue-light vehicle, Caiphus Ndlela, was found guilty of reckless and negligent driving.
The officers were on their way to fetch MEC Meshack Radebe (then social development MEC) from Hillcrest to inspect storm damage at Molweni, when Nxumalo fired two “warning” shots in the air because Moodley had, according to him, been braking in front of him, switching lanes and trying to push his vehicle off the road.
Upon hearing the shots, Moodley lost control of his car.
It veered on to the median and into oncoming traffic, colliding with a bakkie.
Van Vuuren said that while he understood there was pressure on VIP protection unit officers to ensure ministers reached their destinations on time, that could not be at the expense of law-abiding citizens using public roads.
Summing up the evidence against Nxumalo, the magistrate said that a reasonable man “does not simply fire shots out of a motor vehicle. Not even when it is done for no other reason other than a show of strength”.
“The shots were in all probability fired in a show of strength and as part of a bullying attitude to demonstrate his displeasure at the complainant (Moodley) for not allowing them to pass,” he said.
Van Vuuren added that anybody should foresee the possibility of a driver losing control.
Had any of the passengers died in the incident, then a charge of culpable homicide might have succeeded, said Van Vuuren.
On the attempted murder charges, Van Vuuren said it could not be shown or proved that the shots were fired directly at Moodley’s vehicle.
“The State has not established an intent to kill on the part of accused one (Nxumalo),” he said.
Turning to Ndlela, Van Vuuren said that in his opinion, the possibility of not fetching the MEC on time had not created an emergency situation allowing him to drive differently from “normal drivers”.
The emergency was self-inflicted, he said.
Van Vuuren added that witnesses had testified that the blue-light vehicle was “pressing” them.
“In other words the required space between the two vehicles… is not adhered to. This in my view is a negligent form of driving from which real danger of an accident can arise,” he said.
Argument on sentencing is to take place on July 26.
