Pinetown truck driver cleared of murder charges
The case against a 23-year-old truck driver who killed 24 people in a crash near Durban last September is being adjusted ahead of his trial
THE lawyer of a 23-year-old Swazi national, whose lorry caused a major accident killing 24 people in Pinetown (in KwaZulu Natal) last year, announced that the murder charges in the case against him would be dropped.
Sanele Goodness May had been charged with with 22 counts of murder and one charge of reckless and negligent driving following the devastating accident on the M13 last September. His lawyer Lindokuhle Mdletshe said that the charges in the case were no longer murder, adding, “they are changing the charges to culpable homicide.”
The case has now been adjourned until 28 March 2014, until which point police and prosecutors intend to decide on whether May can qualify for bail; a previous bail application had been denied on account of May’s foreign nationality and illegal residence in South Africa. However, having a South African father, May might actually qualify for SA nationality while awaiting his trial.
The motivations for the adjustment of the charges are unknown, however, recent case law from other fatal car crashes has been applied to the investigation with regard to May’s earlier bail application. It also remains unclear whether the owner of the truck company, for which Sanele Goodness May had been working at the time of the crash, would be held responsible and face charges in the future.
May had received an unexpected outpour of sympathy from the public following the harrowing crash in Durban last year, but his popularity may be waning in the light of the most recent developments.
By Sertan Sanderson, 2014
