Crime expert questions eyewitness in Luthuli inquest
A crime scene expert has questioned the eyewitness account
given by the driver of the train, said to have killed Chief Albert Luthuli.
Warrant Officer Brenden Burgess from the SAPS Crime Scene Management Unit testified in the reopened inquest into Luthuli's death at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday.
The initial one in 1967 ruled the stalwart's death an accident, claiming he'd been hit and killed by a goods train in Groutville.
But Luthuli's family maintains he was murdered.
READ: Luthuli family: Cops continued harassment after his death
During court proceedings, Burgess presented two videos that he took last year, which helped reconstruct the scene.
One details the route Luthuli walked the day he died, and another of a train almost identical to the one that allegedly struck him.
He also analysed testimonies from the initial inquest, including reading the reports from doctors who testified that they treated Luthuli.
"The driver mentions that he saw an African male walking towards the train. An African male entered from the southern side of the bridge. Now, he describes the locomotive striking the African male on the right shoulder. If I look at the injury patterns and I criticise it with the eyewitness account, I see no significant injury to the right-hand side above the shoulder."
Burgess says Luthuli's injuries could only have occurred if he was walking in the same direction as the train and not towards it.
"If the locomotive then strikes Mr Luthuli on the left side, causing a fracture to the rib as well as injuries to the hand. The eyewitness does not correspond to what I have described, and for that to have happened, it would have had to have happened on the northern side of the bridge. However, all the statements refer me to the southern end of the bridge."
