Soweto is still reeling from the news that four high school pupils were killed when an alleged race between two Mini Coopers went horrifically wrong. The incident occurred in Mdlalose Street, Protea North at around 4.00pm yesterday.
Allegedly the two vehicles were racing along the two-way street which runs between Protea Glen and Protea North — with one in each lane but parallel to each other — when a car approached from the opposite direction leaving the Mini on the wrong side of the road in trouble. As a result the driver tried to swerve back into the left hand lane but only managed to crash into the other Mini.
Both vehicles then ramped onto the pavement and mowed down four young boys who were walking home from school with two other friends. The youngsters aged between 17 and 19 were still in their school uniforms at the time.
Police confirmed that four of the boys were killed while the other two are in a critical condition having sustained multiple fractures and head injuries. Three of the boys killed were from Jules High School in the Johannesburg CBD and one from Altmont High School in Protea North.
The two drivers of the Mini Coopers were arrested following the incident and will appear in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday facing charges of culpable homicide and negligent and reckless driving.
Very little or no comfort whatsoever to the families and friends of the children who died or are lying critical in hospital.
South Africa has one of the worst records on the planet when it comes to fatalities arising from road accidents.
Regardless of efforts by authorities to try and rein in those offenders who simply couldn’t care less about the warnings regarding the dangers of drinking, drugs or reckless driving, the statistics continue to demonstrate the general disregard for human life.
Culpable homicide is the unlawful and negligent killing of another human being.
It is distinguished from murder only in terms of the intention of the accused. Murder is the unlawful and intentional killing of another human being.
The key is therefore what was the intention of the accused at the time that they drove those vehicles.
If, as alleged, they had been racing down Mdlalose Street then it is with the utmost respect not a case of culpable homicide but rather murder. Moreover the sooner we start to recognize this fact the sooner that people will start taking the laws of the road seriously — for their own sake.
It is a firmly established principle of criminal justice that there can be no liability without fault. The element of fault as a requirement for liability rests upon the moral and ethical view that only persons who are deserving of blame ought to be punished.
Fault consists in either intention (dolus) or negligence (culpa). Intention consists in deliberate criminal conduct while negligence consists in accidental criminal conduct. There are three forms of intention and two forms of negligence.
Dolus Directus (direct intent), where the consequences of an action were both foreseen and desired by the perpetrator. You want to kill someone, so you shoot him. Not the case here. Dolus Indirectus (indirect intent), where secondary consequences in addition to those desired by a perpetrator of an act were foreseen by the perpetrator as a certain result. You want to kill someone and blow up his car while he and his family are in it, knowing that you will kill them as well by doing so. Also not applicable.
In terms of Dolus Eventualis however, where a perpetrator foresees consequences other than those directly desired as a possibility of his actions and reconciles himself to the possible result, we are in business. That is to simply accept the possible result and to live with it if it happens.
How does Dolus Eventualis differ from Negligence?
In dolus eventualis, the result is voluntary and in conscious negligence, the result is involuntary.
In this case if the suspects were racing, then unless they are not from this planet they would know that by committing those crimes (speeding, reckless driving) the very real danger exists that they could land up killing others if not themselves and yet reconcile themselves to that risk.
They voluntarily assume a risk which could result from their conduct as opposed to persons whose actions do not lend themselves to foreseeing the tragic consequences that unfortunately do arise.
If that is the case the charge should be murder and not culpable homicide.
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49 Responses to “‘Soweto drag race was murder’”
I agree 100% they knew that they were risking there lives and everyone around them but they didnt care. Thats the same as someone shooting a gun in a crowded shopping centre if the bullet “mistakenly” hits some one its murder. Hang the F@#$kers
Oh, Traps, these boys must be punished for committing manslaughter. This was not premeditated murder. Violent murders are happening ten times a day and they do not generate as much anger as this high-jinx gone wrong. Perhaps we have become innured to violent attacks than end in death because it is much sexier to report on naughty boys and raped paramedics.
I absolutely agree that this was murder under your described circumstances. Children get murdered every day as well because their parents do not buckle them into car seats but leave them runnning around the back seat or worse still have them sitting on their laps in the front seats! Yes I did say seats!
It is by prosecuting this type of criminal behaviour severely, that we will start to make a difference.
my two cents: these to malicious overpaid mensa candidates are guilty of something far, far worse than murder: sheer assholity.
Like that other bastion of society who deliberately knocked over the girl on her scooter.
In my mind, the deliberate acts of assholism - evin if “culpa” and not “dolus” is far, far worse than the most well-planned and well-executed cold blooded murder. At least the murderer put some thought into it. This just smacks of wilful idiocy, and as such, is worse.
100% correct. Each time we step into a vehicle we need to be conscious of the fact that we are behind the wheel of a killing machine - a lethal weapon - literally! We have no right whatsoever to drive recklessly, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, without a legitimate driving licence or in ignorance of the road traffic laws. WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO ENDANGER THE LIVES OF OTHER ROAD USERS WHETHER PEDESTRIANS OR DRIVERS. We are a damn disgrace - and the devastation caused to parents, siblings, young children when their loved ones are ripped away SO UNNECESSARILY - simply on the whim of some idiot who thinks its macho or clever or both to commit murder or kill in the name of fun. My heart goes out to the families of the boys, the families of cyclists and the familes of the road workers on Town Hill Pietermaritzburg.
My first encounter with Jub Jub was when he was so totally obsessed with his penis (or rather its itchiness and the fear of losing his “vital organ”) on Survivor SA - I didn’t like him then and I don’t like him now. Even if he was a charming chap, he should be properly punished.
I agree with you completely. These men cannot be allowed to get off with manslaughter. They knew what they were doing was illegal, yet carried on doing it. They should be charged with murder. A slap on the wrist will not be justice.
It is like playing recklessly with a loaded gun in a public place. If the gun goes off and kills someone, what will the charge be? It will be a more serious a charge than, “recklessly handling a firearm”. Yet, the charge for killing someone as a result of reckless driving (under the circumstances described in the article) should be the same as that of reecklessly handling a firarm and killing someone as a result.
Murder? I don’t think so but in any case in South Africa we have 1,500 murders per day so what is another 4? Only some 2% end up in court and are convicted so there is little hope of justice being seen to happen.
As the courts are useless and the police are even worse we may find that these criminals get off with a light slap on the wrist.
When I was a youngster we used to have drag races but we did it in the country and late at night. This is not to say that it was OK but at least the only people who could have got hurt was us.
Drag racing when these morons were doing it was a recipe for tradgedy and they should spend a very long time at a local jail.
I shake my head in disbelief at the value systems, lack of morality and compassion of many South Africans. Do you not believe that the rape on a working paramedic is depraved and absolutely abhorrent. How the hell would you feel if it was one of your children or sister or wife who was the victim. I also think you missed the point of the article. Whats sexier about any avoidable (high jinx) death or sexual assault of a person.
I agree with your view, that they should be charged with murder. They could have and should have foreseen that their actions could take the life of another person. However they will not, and culpable homicide unfortunately does not carry a heavy sentence. In fact they may just get away with murder and have to pay a relatively hefty fine to the state. The children’s families get nothing.
I find it a bit strange though that you would be calling for them to be charged with more serious crime that what they will be charged for. Being a criminal attorney
Well argued. While the law can finely distinguish between degrees of intent and culpability, unfortunately there are no such distinctions for the anguish of the victim’s families.
This is the logical outcome of the disrespectful “I’ll do what pleases me, to hell with the rest” attitude that pervades our society. At the low end it manifests in such actions as arriving late for meetings and inconveniencing everyone else - at the high end it leads to tragedy.
I agree it is murder and they should be charged accordingly. I also agree that premeditated murder should be dealt with accordingly. These crimes are not mutually exclusive! When people commit any crime they should be punished accordingly. These things are all linked by the concept of consequences. As South Africans we need to realise there are real consequences for our actions. Maybe then we will be able to rebuild our society.
I have to agree with Panchetta here, this is not murder. Being aware of the danger of your actions is not the same as intent to kill.
So, you claim Dolus Eventualis? Good luck with showing that they were able to foresee the death of four pedestrians (not other motorists, pedestrians).
This is a terrible, tragic, inexcusable event, but calling it murder undermines the seriousness of ‘real’ murder.
Quite franly nothing is further from the truth. But again, in as much as we may be collectively annoyed but these substance asbusing and murderous youngsters, we should always be wary of trial by the media.Rightly, we should express disgust but let the law take its course. I for one would be watching this case with great interest. I would be specially looking at what role money will play. The recent past has shown that it does where characters similar to the Protea carnage are involved.
Thanks Traps. Your last couple of posts have been useful and informative. I think its a good thing that you explain the legal differences between the possible charges that could be laid against these two drivers. The learners who were killed were innocent bystanders like so many who die needlessly on SA roads. What an absolute tragedy, what a waste. I only hope the pop star status of one of the drivers doesn’t affect the outcome of investigations. A famous South African pop star once killed an innocent woman in a head on collision whilst running away from the police in Gaborone. It took about five years before he eventually appeared in court and was acquitted due to lack of evidence or some such nonsense. He was being chased by a police car at the time, but somehow managed to sow confusion as to who was driving the car at the time of the accident. Niether he nor his well connected socialite friend, whom he claimed was behind the wheel, ever served time for their wreckless behaviour.
The death of the four teenagers in Soweto as a result of yet another reckless and irresponsible so-called celebrity is dreadful. There are designated areas for racing in this country and a street in Protea is not one of them. Very harsh punitive measures must be implemented. We are watching this case quite eagerly as law abiding citizens. However, I’m skeptical about our justice system, concerns with the judicial imposition of criminal penalties is by no means a new phenomenon. In many instances it has been discovered that there are prejudices attributed to socioeconomic status and a host of other extralegal factors that may become known or conjectured by judges during court hearings. I don’t have anything against the culprits per se, at least before they committed this gruesome misadventure, but there are four grieving families out there who are pinning their hopes on this country’s justice system. Unfortunately evidence of judicial bias in sentencing also hurts the image of quality in our democratic society; disturbances in the delicate balance of trust vested in our criminal justice may have dire outcomes.
The ANC wanted to make the country ungovernable before they took over. They’ve got the country they wanted now, nobody obeys the laws, the government’s corrupt, people are murdered, drivers disobey almost all the Highway Code.
For the Americans a crime such as the one you have described would be, i understand, ‘vehicular homicide’ and i read somewhere some days ago about a fellow serving a seven years sentence for crashing his Toyota into a car and killing someone as an outcome [he is/always was claiming that his accelerator pedal jammed… something now apparently acknowledged as a possible defence, in the light of the mass Toyota callbacks recently]]
Do we have such an offence [vehicular homicide] here? From your description [subject presumably to a more factual representation of the stated facts] there does appear to be more than casual intent here compared to the luckless Toyota driver.
What happened to the bus driver who killed a load of foreign tourists in a rural area a few years ago… wasn’t he convicted of something like reckless driving rather than manslaughter?
I have to agree with the blog even though I am not a lawyer - the subtleties are nicely explained.
Calpable homocide = driving recklessly (drunk? high?) and accidentally hitting a pedestrian.
Murder = knowingly driving recklessly (dicing your mate, driving on the wrong side of the road etc) and accidentally hitting a pedestrian
On a legal level, would the defense use the fact that alcohol/drugs impeded the defendant’s ability to determine what was reckless behaviour? In other words, being guilty to driving under the influence as a means of avoiding the “intent” necessary for a murder charge?
My daughter’s uncles cross that street each morning and every evening to fetch her from day care, I shudder to think what would have happened had they waited till later in the day to fetch her, would she have been a victim as well? That street is not for racing, hopefully we will have speed bumps by the end of the year, so more tragedies can be avoided. Just this morning when I was walking to the bus stop there were 2 other idiots racing each other up the road this time, at 6h30 in the morning. This is the one time that the South African Justice system can show that it does not have a price. These kids cannot have died in vain, that would be the biggest tragedy of all.
Is Jub Jub not old notorious Mama Jackie’s son or something?
I suspect some tampering with the dockets in future.
Also, to say that white people are not horrified is really a stupid thing to say. The white people I know have not stopped speaking about it and are outraged that kids were killed. So… don’t make rash generalizations.
How can such lowlifes possibly be considered ‘celebrities’? They are nonentities who deserve so much worse than they will receive. These babies should have been thrown out with the bath-water. Actually, on reconsideration they will excellent cellmates for JuJu. They can hold contests to see who can be the biggest moron.
Immortal- You are just a plain common troll. We have 28 comments and counting. You want a hundred? why not 200 hundred or just 85 maybe. How did you set your parameters. Everyone is disgusted by this sordid and unnecessary incident. Young people are dead and injured through indefensible actions and the best you can come up is with another worn and tiresome race card. You should be ashamned of yourself, troll.
Traps, my guess is that the judge in this case will apply the law, while the prosecutors will test it, as they must. Good call on the murder rap, however this case will conclude with a guilty finding on a lesser charge of manslaughter.
I would be most pleased if a murder charge could be maintained, with maximum sentence imposed, but I would hope that the message went out to all the Taxi drivers who knowingly place the lives of their customers at risk with dangerous driving in unroadworthy taxis and busses.
What about my contention though, that without the involvement of Ju Ju, there would be a much lesser fuss and hype from the media. After all, the media have been in attack mode on the wrong-doing of public figures lately, to the point of frenzy. Not that I am complaining.
@ immortal: Your remark is provocative and unnecessary. If you had listened to Capetalk /702 in the last couple of days, you would have heard hordes of (white) people (as well as others)phoning in to express their horror and disgust at this tragedy. This tragedy reminds all of us to hug our children and tell them we love them, because unfortunately one doesn’t know when somebody will take their idiocy out on the open roads. As a mother, I hope and pray I never have to experience what the families and friends of these children are going through. This is why they had the stocks in medieval times….
Thanks for explaining the niceties of the law. To my mind, they killed those children as sure as holding a gun to their heads. No amount of linguistic gymnastics will take that away. The only good that I hope comes of it is that all the children affected by it ( the victims school mates, friends and acquaintances) will learn first-hand the results of such gross selfishness.
“Culpable homicide is the unlawful and negligent killing of another human being.
It is distinguished from murder only in terms of the intention of the accused. Murder is the unlawful and intentional killing of another human being.
”
Immortal- nice of you to take something tragic and make it racist. Disgusting.
Passion rules that should be a case of murder. However, it will be ruled Culpable Homicide.
Whatever the ruling though, these two should get the maximum sentence allowed. No parole.
If the cause of the accident was one driver trying to avoid a head collision resulting in the crash then you can not go on and argue that there was an intention to kill. This is a clear cut case of culpable homicide in that the drivers should have realised that their actions could result in a loss of life yet failed or neglected to take proper precautionery measures to prevent this.
Dolus eventualis applied to a road accident death? Is this somehow legally worse than your usual suspect who goes out in his car for the night, knowing he’s going to get cold drunk, but fails to make any arrangement to get home because he knows he’s going to drive anyway and won’t care?
I don’t see this murder charge standing up personally and think that this is the cunning eye of the needle through which they will be acquitted.
Culpable homicide would have put them both away straight up. Couple with permanent suspension of licences and fair restitution through the civil courts (bearing in mind that these are late teenagers with school records who would likely support families, etc.). That should safely reduce the pair of them to size when they emerge.
No matter what the charge, these kids won’t be brought back, but justice must be done - a murder charge looks good until it fails.
I disagree with all that says that these guys should be charged with murder. None of them planned this and it was a “freak accident”, that’s all. Can any of us prove that they were actually racing? They might have been drunk and intoxicated, but does that meant they were racing?
Yes this is painfull as innocent lives were lost, but in reality this is just culpable homicide and in most cases people don’t get arrested for that. And also what is the use in having an up and coming star behind bars?
It is just strange how this has become a big story only because it ended up in the media. 100’s of murders happen in SA everyday, What I find most strange is that how people make big stories out of surten murders, Murder is murder
Traps, one problem with the murder charge in this case is the fact that the perps were both apparently high on drugs at the time. Whilst this is clearly no excuse, it may well be sufficient to provide reasonable doubt as to their subjective intention at the time of the “accident”.
It could of course be argued that taking drugs when knowing you are going to drive is in itself, at least ppotentially, an act of murder, but in reality the foreseeability of this result is probably too remote.
Perhaps the anwer to our abysmal road safety record in not so much to change the offence, but rather to not shy away from giving custodial sentences for vehicular culp. That responsibility lies largely in the hands of the courts.
Secondly, the cops need to act more decisively in combatting ALL forms of reckless driving, rather than squatting in the buses with their radar guns. That way, perhaps the potential offenders might actually learn their lesson BEFORE they kill someone!
1. Dolus Eventualis is INTENTION not Negligence. Please read the article in full.
2. Culp is a competent verdict on a Murder charge so nobody is getting off simply because you can’t prove murder.
3. In terms of those who kill people while drunk I would defintely charge them with murder. If you can’t foresee that people may die because you are driving drunk you shouldn’t have a license.
4. To the guy who says that in trying to get out of the path of the oncoming vehicle the mini crashed into the other Mini so it must be an accident you obviously have not thought about it.
Dolus Eventualis says if while carrying out this act (a drag race) you foresee (as any sane human would)that someone could get killed and carry on regardless then that is considered intent not negligence when the result occurs.
The fact that you could not have foreseen the exact way that it would play out is irrelevant.
5. The reason we highlight murders or some murders is to call attention to it so others will think twice before doing the same thing.
In this case reckless driving in South Africa cannot be highlighted enough our death toll is disgusting.
Sorry Traps - The prosecution will have great difficulty in proving INTENTION to murder. Will not happen, and if you suppress the emotion of anger for a moment, you will come to realise this.
You are an attorney and I am not, but I will confidently bet real money on this.
‘Prosecutor’: whilst ordinarily being high on drugs would seem to preclude intention, there is plenty of case law to show that taking drugs before doing something (e.g. to loosen inhibition or having put oneself in a position whilst not under the influence to know that you are going to inevitably commit a crime) does not preclude intention - just that the intention is at an earlier phase of the process, thus even at a stretch leading to a premeditated action.
I’m interested in the idea of a murder charge in a road accident case at all - Michael, is there precedent for it where the case involves an accident rather than deliberate and clear intention to drive over someone?
‘Prosecutor’’s second point refers directly to this: if a murder conviction is secured, in theory one could start extending it to other forms of accident, e.g. where a hypothetical person (there are thousands of them out drinking right now) go out to drink, alone in the car or for example to a braai with the kids, knowing that their only mode of transportation home is their own car, driven by themselves. Premeditated murder would be an interesting charge to apply to such.
It’s not a remote chance that you’re going to kill someone when driving drunk. It’s a clear and obvious possibility and one to which our thousand friends already reconciled themselves earlier this evening.
Kit the time has come for those who kill people while driving under the influence to be charged with murder as a matter of course.
The fact that this prosecutor has elected to go with it demonstrates that it is competent BUT unusual.
I believe that if a conviction is obtained and an appeal entered then it will focus the minds of our courts on finally dealing with the morons who kill people on our roads while drunk.
EVERYONE knows that if you drive drunk you could land up in an accident and kill people. Yet despite the terrible statistics they keep on doing it.
If Jub Jub is convicted of murder you’ll be amazed how that focuses people’s minds.
The law does not operate in a vacuum it draws from the society it seeks to regulate.
Our society desperately needs to clamp down on road fatalities many of which are down to drunk drivers.
Michael.. the anger expressed by all sectors of our community…(such a pity that such HORROR should bring people together)….makes your legal assessment of the ‘murder charge’ somewhat reassuring to those seeking the most severe punishment……HOWEVER…. Where does one draw the line?…Do I demand an attempted murder charge for a bumper bashing? OR I have a blown headlight bulb…or a slightly worn tyre that seems acceptable to the driver cos he did not measure the millimetres of tread he had left and knowingly put the car on the road…the involuntary reaction to avoid a dog that crossed the road that led to an argument with a light pole that killed his own in the passenger seat?
My concern is that they may get away with it on a technicality. Is it not possible for the bench, on a charge of Culpable homicide, to assess the degree of “dont care’ recklessness, blatant disregard for the law, and awareness of the possible dire consequences to sentence those responsible on a case to case basis and sentence appropriately, even to ‘life inprisonment’? Or is there a limit to a sentence for Culpable Homicide…OR has it become ‘habit’ to pass a sentence as light as has been ‘traditionally’ perceived?… Has the law become too reliant on ‘precedence”. We know no Judge likes to lose on appeal (ego?) but should someone not set the precedence of a truly trend setting culpable homicide sentencing?
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I agree 100% they knew that they were risking there lives and everyone around them but they didnt care. Thats the same as someone shooting a gun in a crowded shopping centre if the bullet “mistakenly” hits some one its murder. Hang the F@#$kers
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