Cape Town - In loco inspections at the two police stations where late Imam Abdullah Haron was held during detention, evoked emotional scenes on Tuesday.
As part of the reopened inquest into Haron’s death-in-detention, Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare, together with Haron’s family and counsel teams, on Tuesday visited Cape Town Central and Maitland police stations to get a closer look at the locations Haron spent 123 days in.
Visiting Maitland police station, the son and two daughters of Haron – Muhammed Haron, Shamela Haron Ashur and Fatima Masoet – broke down in the solitary confinement cell their father is said to have spent his last moments in before his battered and bruised body was found on September 27, 1969.
Muhammed Haron said: “It certainly was not an easy visit for all of us, it being our first time at Caledon SAPS (now Cape Town Central) and second time at Maitland SAPS ... It’s difficult to express in words, but I think just to listen to the experts or those who have been asked to give their opinion, is helpful.
“Again, it’s difficult to express in terms of trying to imagine what happened in these places during the period that he was held and knowing that we hadn’t seen him since May 28.
It is an emotional uphill battle. I, as a young boy then, had spoken to him from outside, so I could imagine the cells that we visited and more or less where he was located in the row (of cells), and also having to imagine how he had to deal with his own emotions, internally, being under torture.”
After the observations at Maitland, Sheik Irafaan Abrahams, from Surrey Estate Mosque, offered an Islamic prayer which “is for the contentment and peace of the family and that the Almighty ease their pain”.
On Tuesday, two witnesses assisted at the in loco inspections, one of them aeronautical engineer and trajectory specialist Thivash Moodley, who took the stand giving testimony on what was alleged to have been the fall down a flight of stairs that caused Haron’s death.
In Moodley’s evidence, he submitted that while two Security Branch witnesses said Haron fell backwards and slid down the stairs, the injuries noted in Haron’s post-mortem were not consistent with research relating to that kind of death.
According to Moodley’s evidence, research conducted in Scotland, in which more than 50 people were observed after falling down stairs, all were observed to have suffered brain and skeletal injury, spinal injury and internal injuries, including rib fractures.
Haron’s post-mortem showed that he had 27 bruises on his body including a rib fracture. However, Moodley submitted that Haron had “not sustained any head or back injuries in his situation”.
“On the versions of (Dirk Kotze) Genis and (Johannes ‘Spyker’) Van Wyk, Haron would have fallen backwards, and impacted the stairs with the side of his leg and buttocks and slid down the stairs.
Unlike free-falling from heights, where the injuries sustained are well documented and the possibility of a fatality directly correlates with the height the victim has fallen, falling on stairs is more complicated as a person falls a small height from a standing position onto the stairs and then either tumbles or slides down until he/she comes to a standstill or collides with something before stopping,” said Moodley.
“This report aims to determine the impact velocity/force applied to Haron during the alleged fall.
It is evident that the magnitude of the impact had he allegedly slipped and fell on his buttocks did not result in substantial bruising on his rear head, rear neck, shoulders, back, and buttocks. He did not break any bones during the alleged fall.”
Veteran anti-apartheid activist Yousuf Gabru, who is also expected to take the stand, had taken Judge Thulare along with family members and interested parties to areas where Struggle detainees would have been interrogated or held in police cells. The matter continues on Wednesday.
Cape Times