New charges added in hit-and-run case

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Published May 6, 2014

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Durban - Durban driver Kerwin Malgas, who is charged with culpable homicide in connection with a hit-and-run crash in which a mother and infant were killed, will also be charged with stealing a car.

Malgas, 28, of Wentworth, appeared briefly in the Durban Regional Court on Monday.

He is charged in connection with the deaths of Salahia Dawood, 30, and her 9-month-old daughter, Maseehah. Junaid Dawood, who had been driving the car, was injured. The Dawood family were going home after spending a day with relatives when Malgas, who was driving a VW Golf, allegedly crashed into their car in Merebank in April last year.

 

Prosecutor Krishen Shah said Malgas would also be charged with theft of a motor vehicle or, alternatively, in terms of Section 36 of the Criminal Procedure Act, with being in possession of suspected stolen goods. He would also be charged with two counts of culpable homicide, reckless and negligent driving, failing to stop after an accident, failing to render assistance and failing to report the incident to police.

He said witness statements had been handed to Malgas’s attorney, Shameer Goolabjith.

Goolabjith said Malgas had had a problem with the trial being heard before magistrate Trevor Levitt as he believed that he had been convicted by the magistrate in another case.

“This conviction does not reflect in his SAP 69 (a police record of criminal convictions),” the attorney said.

Levitt said he would assign the case to another court if Malgas had a problem. Malgas then said he would not have a problem with Levitt dealing with the trial.

During his bail application, the court heard that Malgas fled after the accident and was traced by a SIM card which had been left in the Golf. A police officer also testified that the vehicle’s number plates were false.

The case was adjourned to next month for a pre-trial conference to be held. Malgas is out on bail of R5 000.

The Mercury

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