Human Rights Violation Hearings — Durban — 1996-05-08

WITNESS:   Four white policemen came to our business and informed me that my brother was dead, and that he had committed suicide.  When I asked them where this had happened they told me it was in a police cell.  And I was surprised, and they asked me, "Didn't you know that your brother was in gaol?"  Of course I didn't know that at that time.  After breaking the news to my mother and my friends - by that time my neighbours had come - I phoned Professor Gordon, a Professor of Forensic Medicine and Dean of the Medical School in Durban, because he was going to perform the autopsy.  I phoned a friend and asked him to get a private pathologist to observe on our behalf.  After taking care of a few things I left for Durban, and at the Gale Street Mortuary I met my aunt from London, Ravia, and her friends, Gaza and Ramina Motala.  Two Indian security police came up to me and asked me to accompany them to my brother's flat because they wanted to search it and others were waiting there, but as the post-mortem was going to be over soon I decided to wait.  I asked Professor Gordon, when he came out of the room, whether my brother had injuries on his body, and he said yes.  And I asked him whether he knew how they were caused, and he said no, he had taken samples of tissue and he would make a report later.  He had to satisfy himself that my brother didn't get those injuries while doing gardening over the weekend.  He did tell me that there were multiple knots round his neck, and his exact words were, "The knots were so tight that I could not undo them.  I had to use a razor blade to cut the trousers off."  And when I asked him whether the injuries were in any way related to his manner of death he said, "I cannot tie them up with the manner of death."  While at the police mortuary I phoned and spoke to Brigadier Hansen, the CID chief, and he told me very little.  He quoted me the Criminal Procedure Act.  And I told him I don't know what that means because he quoted the number and the year.  Subsequently I got in touch with Colonel Francois Steenkamp and asked him what happened.  And there was disparity in the two versions.  One of them said that the trousers was tied to a bar of the grille door, and the other said that the trousers was tied to the door knob.  When I asked Steenkamp about this, and asked which is the truth, he shouted at me, "I don't have to tell you anything," and he slammed the phone on me.  I identified the body, and when we were putting it into the hearse on a bier I was terribly shocked to see that he had a lot of marks, which appeared to me to be burn marks, around both his knees.  My father was not in 'Maritzburg on that day, but fortunately we had found him and he came back.  He flew down and arrived home in time.  At 9.30 that night we buried my brother at the Mountain Rise Cemetery.  Now, when we first arrived home I discussed with a friend, and because we did not get a pathologist in Durban - Dr Chetty had not been able to make it - I contacted my school mate, Attorney Morgan Naidoo, from the firm A K South, Morgan Naidoo & Company, and asked him to please come down.  He came down with Advocate Harry Pitman and Dr Motala.  We had a discussion, and as a result of that Advocate Pitman tried to get the services of a pathologist.  He failed.  Then he tried to get the services of any medical specialist, and didn't succeed there either.  It became clear to us that most specialists, members of a very noble profession, had no intention of tangling with the Security Police.  Morally reprehensible conduct comes in all colours.  Eventually Dr David Biggs, an orthopaedic surgeon, fearlessly rallied to our assistance.  Helped by Dr Motala he conducted an examination and he took down notes.  Then he guided the photographer in taking of the colour photographs, which I subsequently tendered as evidence at the inquest.  Some time after the burial I had a consultation with Advocate Pitman, and he asked me to get hold of the various reports, and it was quite an effort.  We only managed to get the reports on the 13th of December 1977, and on checking I found that not one of them was dated beyond the 29th of August.  Advocate Pitman had phoned Professor Gordon to request the microscope slides of the tissues, and a lengthy conversation took place between Advocate Pitman and Professor Gordon, at the end of which Advocate Pitman was very optimistic about the evidence that Gordon said he would give at the inquest.  The inquest into my brother's death took place in Durban in February/March 1978.  The presiding Magistrate was one Trevor Blunden.  Both Professor Gordon and Dr Biggs submitted a report to the inquest.  Although in the inquest Professor Gordon said he had not counted the wounds, a quick count of his schedules in the report showed that there were closer to 60 than the 40/50 which he estimated.  Dr Theo Lourens, a specialist surgeon from Johannesburg, drew a diagram, which I have given to you all.  He had an artist draw that, and the injuries reflected on it are drawn to scale.  The dark marks represent abraded bruises, and the lighter marks represent bruises.  As you will notice that there is a large concentration around the knees, around the elbows, the back, the small of the back, and to a lesser extent on the shoulders and the ankles.  Also in the report is mentioned that during the autopsy a large area of extravasation was found in the brain.  This was the sort of thing that happens when a person gets a very heavy blow, and Dr Lourens told me that in most cases he would be very surprised if a person receiving such a blow did not become concussed.  Also there was extravasation of the mesentery, which was consistent with a heavy blow to the midriff, possibly a kick, something which will cause a person to become winded.  I won't read out to you the medical report, because I don't understand them very well myself, but I will tell you what Dr Biggs wrote at the end of his report.

MR LAX: "I left the examination with many questions I could not answer.  Some of these were related to the post-mortem procedure and others about the marks I

MR LAX: /"had

MR LAX: "had observed.  It seemed likely that death had been caused by a tight, constricting band around the neck.  It further appeared to be death by suffocation, rather than by sudden arterial occlusion, yet it was stated that the band around the neck had to be cut to remove, the knot being too tight to loosen.  How could this have been achieved?  How the constricting bands around the neck came to be divided into two?  How the multiple and very similar marks had been produced?  For what purposes were the incisions on the inner aspects of the thighs made?  What was the reason for the removal of pieces of skin?"

MR LAX: Some of these questions, of course, were answered at the inquest.  Dr Biggs also conducted an investigation to try to determine how those marks that he saw on my brother's body were caused, and his report said,

MR LAX: "I attempted to produce similar marks on the skin by subjecting specimen to various forms of electrical current, and failed.  Application of heat only damaged the local skin.  Because the sites of most of the lesions were over joints I attempted compression of a joint between the jaws of a vice grip.  This did produce some impressions on the skin, but no lesions comparable to those

MR LAX: /"found

MR LAX: "found on the body.  Next, direct compression of a fold of skin was tried.  It was found that considerable pressure had to be applied to produce an impression which persisted.  By further experimentation of using various instruments I was able to produce impressions which corresponded to those I had observed.  The implement used was of a type used to compress lead seals onto string or wire,"