Durban: Clairwood businessman and bodybuilder Sanjay Juggernath, 34, who was shot and killed in 2018, was hit by 12 bullets.
This was revealed during the evidence-in-chief of Thanasagren Pillay, a forensic pathologist at the Department of Health, in the Durban Regional Court on Tuesday.
He was testifying for the State in the murder trial of Bilal Shaik, 43, Alistair Govender, 36, Brandon Armugan, 30, and Leon Veerasamy, 30, all of Clairwood. The accused are represented by advocate Willie Lombard.
Juggernath was shot and killed at the corner of Ganesh and Flower roads in Clairwood on the morning of December 22, 2018.
At the start of the trial in May this year, all four accused pleaded not guilty. In their plea statements, they denied that they had unlawfully or intentionally killed or contributed to Juggernath's death. Shaik said that he had acted in self-defence.
However, the State, represented by prosecutor Sandiso Ngonyama, alleged that the killing was premeditated.
On Tuesday, Pillay testified on the extent of the injuries that Juggernath had sustained.
He said Juggernath had sustained multiple gunshot wounds with multiple injuries. Those had resulted in blood collecting in both sides of the chest cavity, as well as around the heart and abdomen.
“During (the) examination, 600ml of blood was present in the left chest cavity and 500ml in the chest cavity. There was 20ml of blood in the pericardial sac (a sac of fibrous tissue which surrounds the heart and the roots of the great blood vessels)."
Pillay said Juggernath had also sustained injuries to his kidneys, lungs, liver, oesophagus and major blood vessels.
He said there were 12 entry wounds and eight exit gun wounds. Juggernath sustained a total of 22 injuries, including to his arm, back, abdomen, thigh and face.
Pillay said two of the gunshots, one to the right upper arm area and right shoulder, could have resulted in his death.
He said the bullets had travelled through his chest and heart cavities, before being lodged in the left armpit area.
“These two wounds could have caused blood to collect in the chest cavity, around the lungs, and in the pericardial sac.
“It also caused injury to the oesophagus as well the aorta and pulmonary vein, which are major and important blood vessels in the body,” he said.
Pillay said he concluded that Juggernath’s death was due to multiple gunshot wounds.
The State then closed its case. Lombard said he would bring an application before the court today to have the charges against all four accused dropped.
The matter was adjourned. The accused are out on bail.
The Post