Durban - The owner of a block of flats in Durban has been ordered to compensate one of his tenants after she fell through a glass skylight on the roof into the bathroom of a flat underneath.
Basmathy Naidoo sustained a lung injury, fractured both ankles and her lumbar spine and cut her wrist and hand when she crashed through the skylight, obscured by faded paint, while hanging up her washing, narrowly missing a glass shower enclosure.
It has taken more than five years to get to trial, but now a Durban High Court judge has found in her favour, ruling that the incident occurred because of the negligence of her landlord, the Habib Arbee Family Trust, which owned the Alpine Road property. Although her initial claim was for more than R400 000, the amount of compensation still has to be determined either through negotiation or at a further trial.
In her evidence before Judge Yvonne Mbatha, Naidoo said on the day in question in November 2010, she had gone up the stairs to the rooftop. Several of the trust’s employees had rooms up there and there were also washing troughs and washing lines. As she went to handle an item of clothing on the line, she stepped on a block surrounding the skylight and put her other foot on the same structure. She suddenly fell through the skylight.
In support of her version, her daughter, Samantha Naidoo, said there was free access to the rooftop. She said they did not know the top of the skylight was made of glass, or even that it was a skylight. In their unit, the structure appeared to be made of wood.
The trust, represented in court by Riaz Arbee, opposed the application, saying Naidoo knew the skylights were made of glass and were dangerous, but the one in Naidoo’s unit had been painted for privacy.
Arbee said the rooftop was out of bounds for all except his employees and he denied putting up the washing lines.
He said the gates leading up to the stairs were supposed to be locked.
But Judge Mbatha said Arbee had been attempting to “shift the blame” and tailor his evidence. “He allowed people to live up there with the full knowledge of the existence of the glass skylights,” she said.
“He says tenants were not allowed up there, but there was evidence that even children had access… He had received complaints from residents that people were peeping through the skylights and there were also fears expressed about housebreakings,” said the judge. “These were all signs that he should have been aware of a ticking time bomb.”
The judge said the trust had not put up any signs about the potential dangers.
“It is my view that the landlord was always aware of the existence of the poles and washing lines running over the skylights … I accept that the tenants were only told they should not go up to the roof after this incident.”
The judge said she could not find that Naidoo was to any degree to blame for the incident because the skylight was not obvious to the naked eye, and she ruled that the trust must pay Naidoo’s damages.
The Mercury