Expert said previous inquest into Albert Luthuli's death were fed a 'tall story'

A WITNESS at the inquest into Albert Luthuli's death said that it was too much of a tall story that Inkosi Albert Luthuli was hit by a steam train because the subsequent facts did not add up for the expert who is well versed with such vehicles.

Lesley Labuschagne affirmed that the impact from a steam train travelling at 40 kilometres per hour would have claimed Luthuli's life immediately, as his body would have bounced between the steel bridge and the train.

Labuschagne believes such an accident would have left Luthuli crushed beyond recognition and it was more than likely that his limbs would have been severed.

Those were some of the submissions made by Labuschagne, an old-fashioned steam train expert, during Wednesday's proceedings of the inquest into the death of Luthuli, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the ANC's former President-General.

Judge Qondeni Radebe is presiding over the inquest that is being held at the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

Labuschagne’s testimony gave a measure of credence to the view held by the State and others that the initial inquest, at the time of Luthuli's death, that it was nothing more than a fabrication of facts to protect his supposed killers, who were believed to be working for the apartheid system. 

The version of events put up previously was that Luthuli was taken to then Stanger Hospital shortly after the accident and was in a partially unconscious state, contrary to condition Labuschagne believed he would be in if he were hit by a train.

Therefore, Labuschagne told Judge Radebe on several occasions during his testimony that Luthuli being hit by a train was not believable.

He said in his 28 years of experience working with steam trains, especially the 15CA Class, it was highly unlikely that Luthuli would have survived a second after the impact of a train.

“The 40km/h impact of the train hitting a person and throwing him to the bridge (steel), which also threw him back to the train, the injuries sustained from that impact, the chief (Luthuli) couldn't have died later in the day at the hospital,” he said.

He disputed the evidence presented by the train driver Stephanus Lategan, conductor Pieter van Wyk, and the boilerman, who also doubled as a fireman, Daniel Greyling, at the initial inquest. 

He said the fact that the train was only made up of steel, and the part that supposedly hit him was a sharp corner, he would have died on impact. 

The court had been told that after the incident, a station master was able to identify the victim as Luthuli. 

However, Labuschagne said this was impossible because Luthuli’s head would have been unidentifiable. After all, it would have been crushed while his upper body clothes would have been torn apart. 

He said in his knowledge, a person hit by that type of train, which was running at high speed, would have been collected from the accident scene by a mortuary vehicle, not an ambulance.   

The National Prosecuting Authority-led reopened inquest was established to find new evidence on Luthuli’s death after growing dissatisfaction with the initial findings that was conducted the same year that he died. 

Labuschagne believed that Luthuli might have been assaulted and dragged to the railway line that crossed the Mvoti River to create a false story that he was hit by the train. 

According to a statement presented to the old inquest, Lategan saw “a Bantu (African) man.” walking on the walkway of the railway bridge towards the train. 

“It was a couple of seconds before my (Lategan) train hit him, and I sounded the whistle to give him a warning.

“This bantu (African man) did not take notice of my train but just continued walking along the side of the bridge in the direction of my approaching locomotive,” read Lategan's statement. 

Lategan said that the front part of the locomotive missed Luthuli by an inch before he was hit by the sharp cover steel near the first door on his right shoulder. 

Lategan said that, witnessing the impact, he saw Luthuli spinning around before falling and lying on the walkway of the bridge.

He then applied the brakes and stopped. 

When asked to comment on the statement, Labuschagne said Lategan told the same lies as those told by Greyling. 

He said it was also strange that after the matter had been reported to the station master, who then called the ambulance, Lategan moved the train and continued with his journey to Durban even before the ambulance and police arrived to do the necessary investigation. 

DAILY NEWS