INLSA

Taxi driver Jacob Humpreys at the Western Cape High Court yesterday, where he is to be sentenced for the murder of 10 schoolchildren. The case was postponed yesterday for closing arguments. Photo: Cindy Waxa

Jenna Etheridge

Sapa

The case of taxi driver Jacob Humphreys, convicted of killing 10 children, was postponed in the Western Cape High Court yesterday.

Judge Robert Henney said the case was being postponed for closing arguments today.

In the meantime, he would deliberate on arguments that had been given in aggravation and mitigation of sentence.

Yesterday the State called provincial road safety programme director David Frost to the stand.

He told the court that deaths in minibus taxi accidents in the Western Cape had increased by more than 2 percent since 2005.

Taxis accounted for 10 percent of casualties in 2005 compared to 12.48 percent in 2010/2011. He said the taxi industry had evolved to suit the needs of drivers and fleet owners rather than passengers.

The safety of commuters was secondary to the amount collected in fares by driving fast. There had also been an increase in damage to provincial level crossing booms, with almost one incident every working day of the year.

“This is clearly indicative of the disregard for the booms when they are down,” he said. “There is a vast disparity of the weight and momentum of a train compared to a motor vehicle. It’s like a fight between a heavyweight and a lightweight.”

While taking children to school on August 25, 2010, Humphreys overtook a row of cars at the Buttskop level crossing in Blackheath, ignored safety signals and drove over the tracks. A train hit the taxi and 10 of the children were killed. Four others were seriously injured. Frost said safety had not been improved at Buttskop level crossing since the accident. Judge Henney said it was shocking that instances of damage to booms of this crossing had increased in the last year. “What are you guys doing wrong? Why hasn’t it stopped? What are you people doing to curb this?” he asked.

Frost testified that 64 instances of damage had been reported for 2011 compared with 43 in 2010. Judge Henney said it appeared that policing at the spot was not up to standard.

“Would this have occurred if there was effective policing? You can have all these nice plans in place, but 64 incidents happened.”

Frost said everything possible was being done to curb road accidents.Cross-examining Frost, defence lawyer Johann Engelbrecht asked him what he meant by the term minibus taxis in his pre-sentencing report. Frost explained that he was referring to minibuses that transported people between destinations at a cost.

“You do realise that Jacob Humphreys did not operate a minibus taxi service,” Engelbrecht said. He said Humphreys offered a special service of transporting children to school, rather than strangers to various pick-up and drop-off points. “A distinction must be made between minibus taxis and these service providers... Some parts of your report deal exclusively with minibus taxis and minibuses.”

Engelbrecht criticised Frost’s inclusion of crash examples at level crossings in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Taiwan.

“There might be totally different circumstances in DRC than in South Africa,” he said.

Judge Henney said Engelbrecht was being unfair as Frost was just trying to make a point that level crossings were dangerous.

“The point is that when you approach a level crossing with passengers you don’t take chances.”

Humphreys, dressed in a blue shirt, silver-grey tie and khaki pants, listened attentively during proceedings. He seemed in good spirits, greeting family as he entered the courtroom.

Family and friends of Humphreys’s victims filled all the benches.

They wore shirts with pictures of their children as well as paraphernalia highlighting railway safety.

As Humphreys exited the court, they all pushed signs silently to his face with the words: “10 lives, 10 life sentences, no parole”.