Sani-smash man sues for R30m
2007-02-27 21:51
Pietermaritzburg - An Australian paralysed after an accident on Sani Pass is claiming more than R30m and his wife R7.3m from the driver - also Australian - and the KwaZulu-Natal roads department.
They are Murray Eastman, an electrical contractor, and his wife, Jane, an accounts manager, of Canberra.
They are suing the driver, Robert Mitchell, of Long Beach in New South Wales.
They were in South Africa for a wedding in March 2005 and had decided to go up Sani Pass.
Advocate Jurie Wessels SC, for the Eastmans, said in Pietermaritzburg High Court at the start of the trial on Tuesday that his clients' case against the roads department was that there were no signs warning drivers of dangerous areas, and no barriers to prevent vehicles sliding off the road.
Couldn't feel his legs
Murray, who testified from a wheelchair, said their bakkie crashed after sliding off the road.
He said Mitchell had told him to sit in the bin of the bakkie and he felt "uncomfortable" because he thought Mitchell was driving too fast on the bumpy road.
Just before the accident, he thought of making his feelings known.
When the vehicle started sliding off the road he felt "sick in the stomach" and, the next moment, he was lying half in the vehicle and his legs on a grass embankment.
His wife asked if he was "OK" and he said he could not feel his legs.
A group of people arrived and a farmer's wife, who was a qualified nurse, attended to him.
They were taken to Underberg Hospital where painkillers were administered and then taken to the Medi-Clinic in Pietermaritzburg.
He had a fracture dislocation of a thoracic vertebra, bleeding into the spinal canal, a dislocated shoulder, an ear injury and severe bruising. He was in hospital for about two months and faces further treatment in Australia. He is permanently disabled from paralysis.
His wife had two broken arms and had two operations to each arm and also needs further treatment in Australia.
She was discharged nearly a month after admission. She has reduced mobility and is permanently mildly disabled.
Both Mitchell and the roads department are disputing the claims.
Joint wrongdoers
Mitchell alleges that Murray was negligent as he sat in the back of the bakkie and Jane was negligent as she was not wearing a seatbelt in the cab.
He said that they were joint wrongdoers. If damages were awarded, they should be lower.
The roads department denies that it was liable for any damages as the sole case of the accident was Mitchell's negligence.
The case is expected to continue all week.
- SAPA