Human Rights Violation Hearings — Heiderveld — 1996-04-22

DR BORAINE: We invite Margaret Elizabeth Anne Titus to the witness stand and I understand that she'll be accompanied by her son Johannes Petrus Hendry Titus.  Is Ms Titus here?  Ms Titus we'd like to welcome you to the witness stand, we very grateful to you for coming along and coming along with your son as well.  I understand that you will be testifying is that correct?

MS TITUS: Yes.

DR BORAINE: If that is so, then I would be grateful if you would take the oath.
MARGARET ELIZABETH ANNE TITUS Duly sworn states

DR BORAINE: Thank you very much will you take your seat please.  Ms Titus you have come with your son and your son is the one who was so very badly injured - shot and you will tell us that story.  It goes back to 1976.  It obviously totally transformed your life, your family and particularly your son.
And we want you to be very relaxed and just tell your story in your own words and in order to assist you, advocate Denzil Potgieter who is a Commissioner will ask you certain questions, but of cause it's your story.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank  you Chairperson.  Ms Titus prefers to give her testimony in Afrikaans.

MS TITUS: Afrikaans.

ADV POTGIETER: You are very welcome here, you brought along with you today on your left your son, Johannes.  And next to him is his wife, Marilyn Titus, is that correct?

MS TITUS: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: And your testimony will deal with the shooting incident in which Johannes was injured is that correct?

MS TITUS: Right.

ADV POTGIETER: Johannes is your eldest son is that correct?

MS TITUS: Yes that is correct.

ADV POTGIETER: And as we've heard he is married.

MS TITUS: Yes he is married and he has three children.  Actually what happened this was in 1976 I was at work and my little girl phoned to say that he'd been shot.  He went to the fish shop to go and buy fish for the other children still at home.
When he returned apparently there was a box in the road and he bent down to pick it up and he was shot with an FN rifle.  And I then asked my employer to take me home.  And I went to the scene where the incident happened.  When I arrived there the ambulance was there already and I wanted to climb into the ambulance, but they told me no, you can't get in because he is already dead.
But in Hanover Park  Avenue is a Catholic Church and the priest  stood there and he was also praying.  And the priest offered me a lift to the hospital.  He first said where are you taking the child and they said to Victoria Hospital.  And he stayed in Victoria Hospital for a whole year, he underwent eight operations.
And what they did he was on a respirator and  they had to keep him alive artificially and after a year, he was discharged from hospital - no before he was discharged from hospital Dr Liebenberg told me that the whole in his stomach could not be repaired because if they were to repair it, he'd die and then.  I then transferred him to Groote Schuur Hospital and there they performed  the ninth  operation on him and repaired the whole in his stomach.
And subsequently  a policeman came to me and apologised for having shot the child.  He said he was very sorry, this is one from the Philippi police station, he said that he also had a wife and children and that he was very sorry that he had shot him with the FN rifle.  Before he was discharged from Victoria Hospital, a couple of policeman arrived and they said that he had to go to Pollsmoor prison, so I went to the doctor, the doctor said no, he is far to ill he is in intensive care he simply can't go to Pollsmoor prison in any event, then I took him to Groote Schuur and there they did the ninth operation.
And when he was discharged I received a summons that he had to go to Court.  He appeared in Court and we were in the - sitting in the courtroom, the Magistrate said to him look you've already endured your punishment it's not necessary for us to sentence you because you've already had your punishment.  And that's how it happened that I moved from Hanover Park to Mitchell's Plain.

ADV POTGIETER: Thank you, may I just interrupt you here.  We are now talking about the second incident, thank you- you've told us now what happened in 1976.- '76 the shooting incident.  I just want to put a couple of questions to you to clarify the issue.  Where were you living when this incident happened.

MS TITUS: We lived in Hanorver Park.

ADV POTGIETER: And when in '76 did this incident happen?

MS TITUS: It was I think in September.

ADV POTGIETER: What - what were the conditions in Hanover Park like, were their riots, what happened?

MS TITUS: Well I can't really say, because I was working, but there were quite a few people around the ambulance, a lot of policeman.

ADV POTGIETER: But generally speaking what were conditions like in Hanover Park in September.

MS TITUS: Yes there were riots during - this as during the time of the riots.

ADV POTGIETER: How old was Johannes at the time?

MS TITUS: He was 15 years old.  And I then moved from Hanover Park to Mitchell's Plain.  One morning he walked to the shop, he wanted to go and buy some cigarettes, it was about half past eight in the morning, and one of my neighbours shouted come quickly they've put him into the police van, they took him.  I went to the police station and I asked them where is my child and they said, you must go for your child.
And I went to Groote Schuur  Hospital and I asked the doctors to please give me his milk to hand it in at the police station because he couldn't tolerate certain foodstuffs he had to have this milk.  The doctors gave me the milk and I said to the doctors, please the policeman are refusing to tell me where my child is, they said I must go and look for him.
And the doctors helped me to look for him, they phoned the various police stations and eventually they found him at Victor Verster prison and he was there for 14 days and he was sick because he still had a colostomy bag and he was there for 14 days.  And then after 14 days I just saw that here was my son.

ADV POTGIETER: I am just  wanting to take you back a little bit, I've allowed you to tell the whole story and now I want to go into - it's in a little bit more detail.  During the shooting incident in 1976, where was he injured, which part of his body, you can just tell us.

MS TITUS: Maybe he can show the public how badly he was shot.

ADV POTGIETER: Yes, but perhaps you should rather just explain to us where he was shot, which part of his body, in his stomach.

MS TITUS: Yes and he a lot of plastic tubes and he still has some plastic tubing in his stomach.

ADV POTGIETER: When you arrived on the scene, in Hanover Park where he was shot, was he still there on the scene?

MS TITUS: Yes, the man sitting next to the ambulance driver stood there with my son's intestines in his hands, and he was - he was actually holding it and carried it into the ambulance.

ADV POTGIETER: Are you talking about his intestines?

MS TITUS: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: And you say that he spent a year in hospital?

MS TITUS: Yes he was in hospital for a whole year.  He was on a life support machine and a heart machine.

ADV POTGIETER: Now as a result of the wound that he sustained, how has it affected him, what is his condition now?

MS TITUS: Actually he suffers a lot he is more ill than healthy, he is really suffering.  And the problem with his legs, that is why he has to use a stick, is not enough support in his abdomen.

ADV POTGIETER: The operations you mentioned, there were nine altogether.

MS TITUS: Yes, but the doctors at Groote Schuur told me that they couldn't do another operation on him because if they had t o perform more, he'd die.

ADV POTGIETER: Now were these operations all to his stomach?

MS TITUS: Yes.

ADV POTGIETER: Has he ever worked - has he ever had a fixed employment?