The owner of the taxi that collided with a truck near Copesville killing 15 people in 2011 testified against the driver.
|||Durban - The owner of the taxi that collided with a truck near Copesville killing 15 people in 2011 testified against the driver on Wednesday.
Khulekani Gwala, 23, who has pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of murder and four of attempted murder, has alleged in his defence that the brakes on the taxi were defective and brake failure had been the cause of the grisly accident.
However, taxi owner Nonhlanhla Mpulo told the Pietermaritzburg High Court the taxi Gwala had been driving had new brakes fitted.
“There was nothing wrong with the vehicle. It was roadworthy,” Mpulo said.
A brakes expert, Laurence Merchant, previously testified that the brakes definitely did not fail on the day of the accident.
Merchant told the court he had inspected the taxi’s brakes at the SA Police Service pound at Mkondeni in December 2011, three months after the accident. The collision happened at Copesville on September 30, 2011.
The state alleges Gwala had caused the deaths of the victims when he overtook “bumper-to-bumper” stationary traffic on a blind rise, resulting in an accident when he tried but failed to avoid an oncoming truck.
Thirteen occupants of the taxi died at the scene and two others in hospital.
The case continues.
Daily News