Cape Town - A man whose leg had to be amputated after he landed under the wheels of a train has been dealt a blow in his court bid for damages.
Siyamcela Moses Mnengi’s left leg was seriously injured on the day of the opening game of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. It had to be amputated below the knee.
The Western Cape High Court initially found in favour of Mngeni in May last year, with an acting judge ruling that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) was liable for his injuries.
While he had sued for almost R10 million, the amount in damages was to be determined at a later stage.
A full bench of the same court, however, has ruled against him on appeal by Prasa.
Mnengi’s attorney André Neser said they would petition the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein for leave to appeal.
In a judgment by Judge Andre le Grange - and agreed to by judges Bennie Griesel and Ashton Schippers - he set aside the initial court order and in place of it granted an absolution from the instance, meaning Mnengi had failed to prove his case.
The judgment was handed down on August 22.
It told how the incident which occurred on June 11, 2010 when Mnengi boarded a train at Nolungile station in Khayelitsha, had happened.
There were differing versions, however, as to how events unfolded.
According to the judgment, Mnengi’s version was that he was pushed out of the coach as the train departed and ended up under the wheels.
He claimed negligence on the part of Prasa, saying the train was overcrowded and had departed from the station while the doors were open.
The agency denied any negligence, claiming that Mnengi had been the “author of his own misfortune” because he had, in an “intoxicated state”, attempted to disembark from the train using an exit at the end door of a coach after the train had left the station.
Judge Le Grange described Mnengi’s version as “questionable”.
He further described the behaviour of Mnengi, a soccer fan, as “perplexing”.
In Mnengi’s version, he boarded a train to go and see the game in the city centre just minutes before kick-off.
Judge Le Grange’s other findings included that the alleged scene at the train station as described by Mnengi - that there were many people on the platform blowing vuvuzelas and wearing yellow T-shirts - was “highly improbable” as it was more likely that most soccer supporters would have been in front of a TV instead of at a train station waiting for a train.
Cape Times