Cops 'bungled' booze test in joggers tragedy -
JPSA reaction
by Howard Dembovsky
JOHANNESBURG – Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) was horrified to learn this morning that the JMPD failed to have blood samples taken from Sibusiso Langa, the accused in the Midrand tragedy that took the lives of 5 “joggers” within the prescribed two hours. Ref here. Jurisdiction has absolutely nothing to do with it, given that SAPS have jurisdiction over the entire nation of South Africa and cases can be transferred between stations if necessary. That is simply an excuse that is not going to wash!
Immediately on learning about the crash on Saturday 22 October 2011, JPSA contacted Superintendent Edna Mamonyane of the JMPD and offered to pay for the blood samples taken from the accused in this case to be analysed by a private laboratory, so as to expedite the matter and bring it to a swift conclusion. We were never taken up on that offer and now we know why.
We can only hope that the rest of the investigation was done properly and that a competent and suitably qualified forensic crash investigator was called in to investigate the crash. At the time of the crash, JPSA also secured the services of IBF Investigations crash investigator, Stan Bezuidenhout, who has over 30 years’ experience in forensic crash investigation – also for free, but did not manage to offer this to the JMPD due to their ignoring our requests for cooperation on the blood tests issue.
At the time of making these offers and soliciting these services, JPSA urged that the accused be charged with the appropriate crimes of driving under the influence of alcohol, reckless or negligent driving and five counts of culpable homicide, but that plea was overridden by the Minister of Transport calling for charges of murder to be brought and the NPA obliged.
A motorist convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol can be imprisoned for up to 6 years (on a first offence), 6 years for reckless or negligent driving and 3 years per count of culpable homicide. That comes to 27 years and would send the right message if it were to be imposed.
Driving under the influence of intoxicating substances is the Number 1 killer on our roads and JPSA has recently put a comprehensive proposal to a number of stakeholders to tackle this scourge effectively. People need to come to the realisation that driving under the influence of intoxicating substances has dire consequences and cannot and will not be tolerated any longer. However, this problem must be effectively tackled before people are killed and/or injured as prevention is better than cure – always!
JPSA again extends its sincere condolences to the families of those affected by this horrific incident.
http://www.aartofacts.co.za/news/category/Metro-Police.aspx
