THABANI’S FAMILY WANTS REVIEW OF INQUEST REPORT

MBABANE – The family of Thabani Nkomonye is not satisfied with the inquest report and wants it to be reviewed.

The report on the inquest into what caused the death of Nkomonye on May 8, 2021 near Nhlambeni, was released by Prime Minister (PM) Cleopas Dlamini on April 29, 2022 during a press conference held at Cabinet Offices. One of the findings of the Coroner, Senior Magistrate Dlamini, was that Nkomonye’s death was as a result of a car accident. Nkomonye was a final law student at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) and the circumstances under which he died sparked protests by the youth and nationwide calls for #JusticeForThabani.

Appointed

Government appointed the coroner to establish the cause of the death of Nkomonye, who was widely believed to have allegedly been killed by police. However, the coroner found that the police were not responsible for Nkomonye’s death. An impeccable source informed this publication that it transpired during a meeting that officers from the office of the director public prosecutions (DPP) held last Friday with the Nkomonye family and their legal representatives, that the family was not entirely happy with the report of the inquest. The source said during the meeting, the family stated that they had concerns with the coroner’s report and pointed out that it had a number of discrepancies. The purpose of the meeting, according to the insider, was for the parties to discuss the available evidence, as per the report, and who they thought should be charged and prosecuted. However, the sources alleged, the Nkomonye family complained about certain aspects of the report.

Misdirected

“They complained that the coroner misdirected herself in a number of ways,” alleged the source. As a way forward, the insider stated, it was decided that the record of the proceedings of the inquest be transcribed and in the meantime, they sought out their grievances over the report in writing. When sought for comment, Nkomonye’s mother, Siphiwe Mkhabela, referred questions to the family’s legal representative, Advocate Mduduzi ‘Tsotsi’ Mabila. The advocate confirmed the meeting but declined to discuss further details, citing that the matter was still being discussed with the family. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Phila Dlamini, also confirmed the meeting. However, the DPP said he was yet to receive feedback from his officers, who attended the meeting. He said the Nkomonye family and officers from his office were now working as a team to look into the available evidence for the purpose of establishing if an offence was committed and by whom.

Dlamini also said in such meetings, the parties also looked into who could be charged and prosecuted, and which charge could be preferred against that individual. “We discuss with the family as we all want to know which offence was committed and the person responsible must account,” said the DPP. He also stated that some of the officers from his office recently seen the report and were yet to go through it. Last Friday’s meeting, according to Dlamini, was the first and others would be held. “It is early days, some of them are still to go through the report. They are a team now,” he added. The DPP further said, there was nothing wrong with the family seeking the report.  

Nkomonye was last seen driving a Mazda Demio on March 8, 2021, which was involved in a traffic accident. The vehicle, registered VSD 584 AS, was towed to Matsapha Police Station where it was kept, according to the summary of the report, at the instance of Sigodvweni police who attended the scene of accident. The executive summary of the inquest report stated that the coroner made her findings after considering the totality of the evidence of all the witnesses.

Error

The PM said the cause of the accident, according to the summary of the report, was human error on Nkomonye’s part. “It was not due to mechanical fault in the car. There are reasonable grounds to suspect that his state of sobriety and speed may have contributed to the accident,” it reads. Nkomonye was alleged to have been involved in a high speed chase with the police when the accident occurred. However, the finding of the coroner was to the effect that ‘whether the high speed chase between the police and Mr Nkomonye did occur, it could not be ascertained due to lack of evidence and failure to procure the video footages from Ngwane Park and Nhlambeni respectively’. The PM stated further that the coroner had found reasonable grounds to suspect that Nkomonye may have been ejected from the motor vehicle through the front driver’s side window as a result of the high impact of the accident. “This was supported by the visible outward damage on the panels of the driver’s side door. Nkomonye’s  death was due to multiple injuries by blunt force trauma and there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the injuries he sustained were as a result of the impact from the accident.”

Evidence

The corner found that Nkomoye’s exact time of death could not be established but there was expert evidence that estimated it to be within three to five days before his body was discovered on May 13, 2021. He stated that there was a possibility that Nkomonye died within the period that Dr Ngude estimated. During the inquest, the coroner was informed that Mathokoza Makhanya was the first person to arrive at the scene of accident and that he was there when the accident occurred. During his appearance before the coroner, Makhanya said there was nobody at the scene when he arrived and requested other motorists to search for the occupants of the vehicle, including the driver. There was also the submission made by Dr Reddy who conducted the post-mortem. The doctor made a suggestion that Nkomonye may have been assisted to exit the vehicle or he exited through a window. The windscreen was said to have curved inward, which meant it was not likely that he exited through that window.

Sergeant Selby Nxumalo, who is a motor vehicle examiner, said, during the inquest, Nkomonye’s vehicle was driving at a high speed, judging from the severity of the impact of the accident. Nkomondze was said to have been intoxicated on the day he got involved in the accident, as confirmed by his brother, Mangaliso. These two factors, were said to have possibly contributed to the accident. Sergeant Nxumalo also informed the coroner that when he examined Nkomonye’s vehicle, he observed that the condition of the driver’s seatbelt and established that the driver did not wear his seatbelt when the accident occurred.  Sergeant Nxumalo, however, is not trained and qualified as a motor vehicle crash investigator, the inquest was told.

Inspection

The senior magistrate conducted an inspection-in-loco at the scene of the accident during the inquest and Sergeant Nxumalo explained how the accident was likely to have happened. Whether Nkomonye exited the car on his own or with the assistance of another person was not proven. There was also no evidence that Nkomonye had been dragged from the scene of accident, to where his body was found, a couple of metres away, said the coroner. It was stated that there were no drag marks between the scene of accident and where the body was found, except for the fact that the ground near the body was affected. This, the coroner was informed, could have been due to that the body, might have been ejected from the car and landed on that spot.

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