Duan Geldenhuys (20) who is responsible for the death of Tino Thomas, was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for three years, in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Over the next 18 months he has to attend drug and alcohol rehabilitation, life skills and other restorative programmes.
Geldenhuys pleaded guilty to charges of reckless and negligent driving, driving under the influence and culpable homicide in the court in January. The case was postponed for sentencing to Friday March 8.
Diamantino Cornelius Carvalho (Tino) Thomas would have celebrated his 21st birthday on March 20. On Saturday February 9, 2013, at 02:15, he was killed. He was riding his motorbike home from the Quick Shop at Task Nissan. Tino was hit from behind by Geldenhuys in Sheba Road.
The two played rugby for the Barberton club.
The force of the impact from Geldenhuys’ Toyota Auris threw Thomas 80 metres through the air before he landed next to the pavement. The bike was hurled even further, approximately 50 metres from Thomas’ body.
Barberton Times was on the scene when the intoxicated Geldenhuys was led from his car by the SAPS. It was later confirmed that while Thomas had no alcohol in his blood, Geldenhuys was way over the legal limit.
On Friday families of the victim and accused awaited sentencing in a tension-filled courtroom. A social worker, identified as Zelda, was called to the stand to give evidence about the micro-profile report compiled on Geldenhuys. Attorney for the defendant, Coert Jordaan, grilled her right from the start.
Moments before, magistrate Roelf Smith asked her what her qualifications were and she answered that she was a social worker. Jordaan used this as motivation that she clearly didn’t understand the question as she was not asked her job description, but what her qualifications were. He wanted to know if this was because of the language barrier and asked her if she understood English.
She replied that she understood the question, but that she was tense under the circumstances.
Jordaan continued to demonstrate that the report was inadequate on numerous details such as the said language barrier. Geldenhuys was Afrikaans speaking, and he too must have been nervous during his interview with the social worker, especially because it was conducted in English.
“Just now you proved that you were nervous and because of that you made a huge mistake. Is it not possible that Geldenhuys might also have misunderstood your questions because he was nervous? Did you even give him the choice of having the interview conducted in his own language?” asked Jordaan. In her report, Zelda came to the conclusion that Geldenhuys didn’t show any remorse, but instead shifted the responsibility onto his father, because, she said, Geldenhuys never made an attempt to contact the family of the deceased to ask forgiveness.
Jordaan took this opportunity to question the social worker’s competence once again, as he said that she should be aware of the law stipulating that a wrongdoer is not allowed to make contact with the damaged party.
Zelda said that Geldenhuys denied that he was guilty and then she read the following, in his words, from the report, “I was intoxicated. I was distracted”. “Do you say that is a denial? All of those are admissions of guilt,” said Jordaan and continued, “Madam, I put it to you that your report is totally subjective. It is not objective as it is supposed to be.”
No one else was called to the stand and Smith said he understood how the parents of Tino Thomas felt as it was a very difficult and painful situation. “In his plea, Geldenhuys said he was sorry and showed remorse,” said Smith. “The objectives of sentencing and punishment are not to take revenge. On the one hand, we have the parents of the deceased and on the other hand, the parents of the accused. Someone is going to get hurt.
The fact is Geldenhuys is young and a first-time offender. I can send him to prison for five years, but is it a suitable punishment? I do not agree with the statement that he didn’t show remorse, because he has done so before this court. I do not believe that the community wants two kids to be taken out of society,” Smith continued.
“The purpose of the sentence is to get rid of the alcohol,” he said. By this time, Gordon Thomas, Tino father, had left the courtroom. After the court was dismissed Wessel Geldenhuys, Duan’s father, said he had compassion for and sympathy with the parents of Thomas and admitted that he would most probably have reacted in the same way.
“My son couldn’t have had a greater sentence than the one he has already been living with for more than a year, knowing that he was responsible for taking the life of another young man. My child doesn’t sleep at night,” he said.
