Human Rights Violation Hearings — Queenstown — 1996-07-23

L BARNES: On that Thursday evening we only left Port Elizabeth quite late that evening, we arrived in Queenstown something after nine o'clock, we then proceeded to book ourselves into the hotel.  It was quite ironic that night, because when we arrived in town, it was the first time that that colleague of mine had ever been to Queenstown.
 I happen to be born and bred here, went to school in Queenstown, so I am familiar with the town.  That evening when we arrived in Queenstown, there were two women pushing 
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a baby down the main street, just other side the Spur.
 My colleague still remarked to me and said, is this safe with two women pushing a baby down the street at night and I remarked and said, yes, well I grew up here, not knowing what was to follow.
 We then proceeded to the hotel, we were - it was ten o'clock, we were going to go and eat and the restaurant at the hotel was a Chinese restaurant and my colleague decided he wasn't interested in going there, because he didn't like Chinese food and he had seen the Spur on the way in so he decided we would go to the Spur.
 We then proceeded to the Spur and arrived there sometime after ten.   I would guess between quarter past, twenty past ten.  The Spur was very full, it was full of young, school children celebrating the end of the year at school.
 The waitress met us at the front door and there were only two tables available.  One on the far left and one on the right and we chose to go and sit at the table on the left hand side not knowing that a bomb had been planted under the chair.
 We then sat down there, I actually sat on top of the bomb, if I can call it that.  We proceeded to eat and it was roughly between ten past, quarter past eleven, we had finished eating and I had gone to the toilet and on my way back, I saw the waitress and I asked her if she would mind coming to take a dessert menu from us.
 I sat down and the waitress arrived at the table and at that point the bomb went off underneath me.
 It blew me into the ceiling, I can remember it quite clearly and I came out somewhere at the back.
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 And it felt like quite a long time.  I then heard somebody saying get up and follow me, it was the waitress' brother.  I got up and I actually walked out.
 I got onto the island and I felt very weak.  My clothes, my shoes, I had contact lenses, they were blown out.  I then asked somebody to help me.
 A young lady came across and I gave her my number to phone.  She then phoned home and told my wife what had actually happened.
 The ambulances seemed to take a long time to get there but I'm not too sure how long that was.  I was then taken to the Queenstown Frontier Hospital and funny enough the Doctor that treated me there, also happens to be my father's Doctor, so I knew him.
 On numerous occasions people would ask me what is your name, where do you live, just to check if I was conscious at all or if I was absorbing.
 I then went into a bad state of shock, my whole body was shaking from the shock.  I had extensive burns and shrapnel wounds.  Both my legs and my stomach had shrapnel wounds in.
 My legs, my back, my arms, my face, my whole body - I suffered 33 percent burns from the bomb.  I overheard the Doctor in the passage talking to a fellow Doctor at this point, to say that he didn't know if I'd actually make the trip down to East London, but if I made the trip, I'd a good chance of surviving.
 In the ambulance with me on the way down to East London was my colleague, Jerome Pieterse and the waitress, Heidi Cunningham.  We were the three most injured people, I think there were 21 or whatever people that were injured at that 
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time.
 We arrived in East London, it was something to two or quarter past two in the morning, the ambulance.  The specialist was there to meet me.
 I was taken to theatre that morning at seven o'clock and I had numerous operations that followed thereafter.
 At first they thought that I might loose my leg totally, they removed a table foot and a six inch nail that came out of the one lower part of my right leg.
 And he also said that I wouldn't be able to gain full functionality of it.  It must have been a miracle, because first of all, I survived the bomb, bearing in mind I happened to be sitting on it.
 I went into hospital or into theatre that morning, it was a Friday morning.  My colleague went in also on the Friday morning after I did.  We were all three in intensive care in the East London private hospital.
 That, from then on I couldn't remember too much while I was in intensive care, I was heavily drugged, obviously in a lot of pain.
 My whole body was basically bomb bandaged.  My arms were suspended in the air by using pillow cases because of the extensive burns.  The next day my colleague went into theatre again and I was going in on the Sunday morning, when the Doctor, Specialist told me that my colleague actually passed away, that was the Sunday morning.
 He had suffered a massive heart attack from the shock and obviously from the after affects from the bomb blast.
 Thereafter I had numerous follow up operations.  I was discharged from hospital in a wheelchair the day before Christmas and then I flew home.  When I got home, I still 
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couldn't walk.
 I couldn't ride from the extensive burns, specifically on my left hand because I am left handed, so it was like starting all over again teaching yourself to walk, coping with the trauma.  My family suffered quite a lot, specifically my little son.
 At that stage he was, what, four years of age - 1992, he took one look at me in hospital and ran away, he said that wasn't his dad.
 He has suffered psychologically, he's got a speech problem which is directly related to the incident.  The medical bills were in the vicinity of R88 000-00 at the time.
 Fortunately I do have a medical aid, but the costs of the medicine and the Doctors afterwards, is all for my account and that was, it is heavy and today I still need surgery, reconstruction to my right leg.
 Although I've regained functionality of it, there is a lot of muscle loss and I don't have all the functions of a normal leg what I should have.
 And that is really what I have got to say.

ADV POTGIETER: Well, thank you very much Mr Barnes.  Is there anything in particular that you would want to request the Commission to look at for you?

L BARNES: Thank you.  Basically all I'd sort of want to know is the people that planted the bomb, will they be coming forward?  Will they be testifying?  And what is really going to happen to get their side of the story and is anything being done about it?
 That is all really I would like the Commission to be able to tell us.
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ADV POTGIETER: Thank you very much Mr Barnes.  We have noted that.  We are indebted and grateful that you have come and that you have gone to the trouble of sharing your testimony with us.
 I thank you very much and I hand you back to the Chairperson.

L BARNES: Thank you.