Nearly three years after Mr Danjay Singh died as a result of an alleged assault at the Stones nightclub in Edenvale, the trial of the man accused of causing the fatal injuries is underway in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court.
The accused, Mr Hercules van Staden, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of culpable homicide.
In August 2012, the NEWS reported that Mr van Staden was arrested in connection with the death of Greenstone resident, Mr Singh, following an alleged assault at the night club.
At the time, the Edenvale SAPS station commander Colonel Sam Maredi, said the incident took place on July 28, 2012.
Mr Singh died in hospital on August 2, allegedly as a result of his injuries.
In the latest leg of the trial on Tuesday last week, state prosecutor Mr Patrick Morris called neurosurgeon Dr Vindo Goolab to the stand.
In his testimony, Dr Goolab confirmed that he was the doctor who attended to Mr Singh following his admission to hospital.
Dr Goolab described Mr Singh’s condition as comatose when he arrived at the hospital.
“The patient (Mr Singh) suffered severe multiple contusions (bruising) to the surface of his brain. He also had haemorrhages (bleeding) on both the right and left sides of his brain,” Dr Goolab testified.
He added that Mr Singh also had a blood clot in the deep part of his brain.
Dr Goolab also testified that Mr Singh scored a four on the Glasgow Coma scale (GCS).
GCS is the most common scoring system used to describe the level of consciousness in a person following a traumatic brain injury.
“Three is the lowest score on the scale,” said Dr Goolab.
“He (Mr Singh) was diagnosed as a severe comatose head injury patient,” he testified.
When asked what possible causes for the injury could be, Dr Goolab included interpersonal assault or a severe motor vehicle accident in his response.
During cross questioning by the defence’s Advocate PF Pretorius, Dr Goolab was asked if the injury could be sustained if the deceased fell down stairs and hit his head on a landing, to which he responded that it could be possible.
The state then called the Edenvale SAPS’ Detective Sergeant James Mohlome to the stand, as the investigating officer for the case.
Det Sgt Mohlome told the court that he was in possession of video footage from the night of the alleged assault.
Magistrate Saulse allowed the two minute video footage to be shown in court and for it to be provisionally entered into as evidence.
The footage was recorded outside the nightclub and was dark.
During the viewing of the footage, the state prosecutor, the magistrate and defence attorney recorded their observations.
In the footage, a confrontation can be seen taking place, after which two men tumbled down the stairs outside the night club.
The analysis of the footage took nearly three hours, following which the court adjourned for the day and the trial was postponed to August 12 and August 13.
Mr van Staden’s R5 000 bail was extended until this time.
