The “probabilities” were that Acting Judge Patrick Maqubela’s heart killed him, says Professor Gert Saayman.
|||Cape Town - The “probabilities” were that Western Cape High Court Acting Judge Patrick Maqubela’s heart killed him.
This was the evidence of Professor Gert Saayman, head of forensic medicine at the University of Pretoria, during cross-examination in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday. Saayman is an expert witness for the defence.
On trial is the acting judge’s widow Thandi Maqubela and her business associate Vela Mabena, who are accused of murdering him by suffocation with a piece of cling wrap.
The trial, now nearing its end, picked up on Wednesday after a postponement of almost three months.
While the State’s forensic pathology expert Dr Sipho Mfolozi ruled out natural causes as Patrick Maqubela’s cause of death, Saayman disagreed, saying that, in his opinion, natural causes should be the primary consideration in determining the acting judge’s cause of death.
When prosecutor Bonnie Currie-Gamwo questioned him about the acting judge’s physician having given him a clean bill of health just three weeks before his death, Saayman said there were many people who might appear to be healthy but that an autopsy or thorough medical examination would show significant “pathology” that could cause death at any time.
In Acting Judge Maqubela’s case, he had had an enlarged heart that was “well above” the norm for a man of his age. He was 60.
The court heard that other countries considered the normal weight of a heart to be 350g, whereas Patrick Maqubela’s heart had weighed 369g.
His heart, Saayman said, should have weighed well below 350g because people, particularly those over the age of 50, lose muscle mass as they grew older and that this included the heart.
He confirmed Judge John Murphy’s understanding that in the absence of hypertension, he would’ve expected significantly less heart mass.
On questioning by Currie-Gamwo, however, he acknowledged that these standards were used abroad and that there was no standard for South African males.
“The probabilities are that his heart killed him,” said Saayman, adding that he could not say this with certainty.
He could also not rule out non-natural causes.
He said it was possible that Maqubela might have died by asphyxiation, such as suffocation with a piece of cling wrap, but later during cross-examination said that if the court pushed for his opinion on the issue, the probabilities were that this was not the case.
He could not, however, come to a definitive conclusion as to the acting judge’s death.
“I reiterate, the medical findings are not inconsistent with an asphyxial death but I submit that for the court to come to that conclusion… it should do so not primarily on the basis of medical evidence but ancillary or other evidence,” he said.
Judge Murphy also noted that he planned on amending the indictment.
With the murder charge, he intended to add - where it stated that the death had been caused by suffocation with plastic - “or means unknown”.
In the charge against Thandi Maqubela for the alleged forgery of his will, Judge Murphy said that he intended amending the indictment, where it stated “making of the signature”, to “making of the will”.
The case will continue proceedings on Tuesday.
leila.samodien@inl.co.za
Cape Times