The alleged drunk driver responsible for the death of Nadia Bond might stand trial on murder charges, owing to the dolus eventualis rule of intention to kill, the same legal principal that saw Oscar Pistorius convicted for murder.
Believing the Kraaifontein police had bungled the investigation, the Bond family earlier last month appealed to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to reconsider the charges and change it from culpable homicide to murder.
The docket was thus forwarded to the office of the DPP and the case postponed in the Kuilsriver magistrate court on Wednesday, pending a decision from the DPP.
A person can only be convicted of murder if an intention to kill can be established, which is not usually the case in an accident.
But Nadia’s father John Bond, says that this was no accident.
“He (Gysman) willingly and intentionally climbed into a car knowing that he was drunk and raced down the road in this state, again knowing that he could hurt or kill someone in his condition. That someone was my little girl,” said John Bond, Nadia’s father outside the court last week.
In South African law, under the principle of dolus eventualis, (a form of intent) a person can be convicted of murder if they foresaw the possibility of their actions causing death but continued with it regardless of the consequence.
Nadia (8) was knocked over by Bradly Gysman (19) in Kraaifontein on 18 September last year, while crossing the road walking to a friends house.
She suffered a broken neck, extensive brain damage and internal bleeding. She was taken to the Kraaifontein Day Hospital but later transferred to the Red Cross Children’s hospital where she died the next day.
Gysman was arrested and charged with culpable homicide, drunk and reckless driving and driving without a valid driver’s license.
After appearing in the Kuilsriver magistrate court on 21 September 2015, he was released on bail of R2 000.
In the case of Pistorius, five judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals found Pistorius guilty of murder, saying he “armed himself with a high-calibre weapon and must have foreseen” that whoever was behind the door might die, especially given his firearms training and the fact that he fired four shots into a closed bathroom door.
Bond told TygerBurger that he trusted the DPP to make the right decision.
“This is not just about my daughter. Nadia is gone. It is about every other person or child, which could be killed by a drunk driver in this country. This decision could make a big difference,” he said.
The case was postponed to 24 May.
