Former Western Province cricketer Luke Fairweather was acting like an “unstoppable animal” during last year’s fatal altercation with a City of Cape Town traffic officer, the inquest into his death heard last week.
Fairweather, 49, died after being shot in the stomach during an argument with traffic officer Ian Sinclair in Mariendahl Road, outside Newlands cricket stadium, in January last year.
This week Nelia van Niekerk who witnessed the altercation, told the hearing in the Wynberg District Court, before magistrate June Snayer, that Fairweather was “very angry”.
Van Niekerk, the second of four witnesses to take the stand so far, said: “The officer was passive, irrespective of his (Fairweather’s) attitude, and did nothing during the argument.” Fairweather, on the other hand, was “bombastic” and used “absolute force” as he threw the officer against the rear windscreen of a parked car.
Van Niekerk, who arrived at the stadium to fetch her son, said she was parked on the opposite side of the street and could clearly hear everything that was said.
“Everything happened very quickly… The officer’s (Sinclair) back and head hit the back window and he fell to the ground. The deceased ended up on top of him,” she said.
Describing the incident as being like a scene from a movie, Van Niekerk told of how the officer fell to the ground, then Fairweather pulled him back up, holding him by the shoulders as he continued shouting at him.
“Pull it, pull it. Pull the f***ing trigger,” he said.
Under cross-examination, she testified that Sinclair remained calm and that his behaviour was professional throughout the altercation.
“After the shot went off, he was just standing still, as if he was in shock.”
Van Niekerk added that it appeared as if Sinclair “het op sy tande gebyt” (biting his teeth) until the very last minute, while Fairweather was provoking him.
The shot went off, she said, during the struggle, when the two were still locked together.
When defence attorney John Riley asked Van Niekerk whether Fairweather died because of his own actions, she said she agreed this was the case. She added that Fairweather had his back to her during the fight.
“The deceased was blocking my view.”
Other witnesses who have taken the stand include Fairweather’s mother Margaret, who described her son as kind, gentle and loving. She told the hearing that Sinclair was abusive, rude and disrespectful.
She also told the inquest that she felt angry and afraid at the way Sinclair asked her to move her car at the stadium, which initiated the altercation between him and her son.
Wheelchair-bound Jeremy Hindley, 68, Fairweather’s close friend of 10 years who was with him at the cricket and witnessed the altercation, said he was aware his friend had a violent temper.
“I heard rumours about it, and all I know is that he was suspended from a golf club due to the anger issue. He smashed up the green with his golf club,” Hindley, from Hermanus, told the hearing.
Hindley described the noise of the confrontation outside the stadium as “extremely aggressive”. The two struck the back of a nearby hatchback car with such force that the impact shattered the rear window.
The last witness, Vivian Lamond told the hearing that Fairweather was red in the face, dripping with sweat and shouting at Sinclair.
She said when Fairweather started hitting Sinclair in the chest she started hooting in a bid to attract other traffic officials.