Road-rage driver found guilty

2003-10-08 12:38

Cape Town - A man who viciously attacked two close friends with a baseball bat in a road-rage incident in February last year was found guilty on Wednesday on two counts of attempted murder.

Alberto Saunders, 22, appeared in Cape Town regional court before magistrate Edmund Patterson who postponed the case to December 3 for sentencing.

The incident happened in Table View near Cape Town in the early hours of February 2 2002, when Mark Combrinck and Marc Walden were on their way home from a night out.

Patterson said that both victims had made a favourable impression on the court, and had answered questions spontaneously and had made concessions where necessary.

Patterson said Walden did not see the attack on his friend Combrinck and said so, whereas he could have exaggerated the incident but had not done so.

He said Saunders had displayed a high degree of aggression when he approached the two men in the early-morning attack after forcing their car to a standstill.

However, the question was whether he had acted aggressively or in self-defence.

Patterson said Saunders' behaviour showed aggression and confrontation. He had flashed his lights at the two before forcing them off the road.

It was Saunders who had got out of the car to confront the two men, whereas he could just as easily have just driven away.

Patterson said Saunders had started the confrontation and had punched the driver of the car (Combrinck) through the open driver's window before fetching a baseball bat from his car.

Baseball bat a 'dangerous weapon'

Saunders had then attacked both men in a reckless manner.

Saunders had claimed he had merely meant to put the two men out of action, but Patterson said Saunders had taken his action much further than a reasonable man would have in the circumstances.

Patterson said it would have been easy for Saunders to have merely driven away.

A reasonable person would have realised a baseball bat was a dangerous weapon that could have caused serious injury or even death.

The fact that both victims had had cracked skulls from the incident indicated a high degree of violence had been used.

Patterson said he disagreed with a defence contention that, at worst, Saunders was merely guilty of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.

He said the court accepted Saunders did not have a direct intention to kill, but he should have realised, as a reasonable man would have, that a baseball bat could cause death.

The court rejected Saunders' version as untruthful and unreliable.

- SAPA