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Road rage attack awoke resident
12/09/2002 21:02 - (SA)
Cape Town - Alleged road rage assailant Alberto Saunders "got back into his car and calmly drove away" after attacking friends Marc Combrink and Marc Walden, the Cape Town regional court heard on Thursday.
This was the evidence of Table View resident Robert Conradie who said he awoke in the early hours to the sounds of screeching brakes and a woman screaming and swearing.
Conradie told the court he peered over the wall of his garden to see a man punching another at the back of a sedan.
Conradie testified in the trial of Alberto Saunders (21) who has pleaded not guilty before magistrate Edmund Patterson to two
charges of attempted murder.
The alleged road rage incident landed both Combrink and Walden
in hospital with serious head injuries.
Both have told the court that Saunders had no reason for the
attack on them other then the fact that Combrink had flashed his
bright headlights at him from behind.
Conradie told the court he awoke about 03:00 to the screams of a woman shouting to her companion (Saunders) to "get back in the...car".
He said he had peered over the wall to see Saunders repeatedly
striking someone with his fist.
Conradie said he shouted, "hey! hey!" whereupon Saunders got
back into his car and "drove away calmly".
He said a man lying on the ground (Walden) was picked up by
Combrink, and they both got back into their car.
Conradie said he did not bother to report the incident to the
police because "this always happens - drunk guys are always
fighting".
A private investigator engaged by the Walden and Combrink
families, who went knocking door-to-door in search of someone who
may have witnessed the incident, eventually knocked on Conradie's
door.
Questioned by the defence team, advocate Andre Botha and
attorney Andre van Graan, he said he did not see anyone being hit
with a baseball bat.
Told that Saunders would deny punching someone repeatedly in the face, he replied: "He definitely did."
Detective Inspector Conrad Leggit told the court an anonymous
caller gave him the telephone number of a woman called Dominique
who could tell him what had happened.
He said he telephoned Dominique, and asked her to bring her
boyfriend - Saunders - to him.
Inspector Leggit said he arrested Saunders on arrival at his
office and he was willing to make a statement in the presence of
his attorney.
The hearing continues on October 3.
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