Parents’ anguish as deadly crash driver acquitted

“I am not saying he is not guilty and if he is, he will have to live with it for the rest of his life. But I cannot convict him on the evidence before me.”

A magistrate’s words on Friday afternoon set one man free and at the same time devastated a distraught family even further. 

For former Bay advertising executive Ross Ventress, his acquittal on a culpable homicide charge after a fatal collision with a motorbike meant he could now focus on his future — one filled with emigration plans and possibly marriage.

But for the parents of Paul Manyadzwa, the teenager who died in the horror crash, all of their hopes and dreams for the aspirant youngster have been crushed.

Later on Friday, his mother’s inconsolable sobs echoed through the empty corridors of the Port Elizabeth magistrate’s court, where the trial played out.

Ventress, 45, who admitted to having consumed alcohol earlier on January 13 2018, allegedly had a blood-alcohol level three times over the legal limit.

He had been at a work function at Bridge Street Brewery earlier that evening, where he had enjoyed pizza and beer with colleagues.

But without being able to prove that his blood was drawn within two hours of his Land Rover Discovery 4 colliding with the motorbike in Walmer, the charge of driving while under the influence could not stand.

Several conflicting versions came to the fore on Friday as one by one the motorists who had arrived at the accident scene on the corner of Heugh Road and Sixth Avenue later that night took to the stand.

Despite much confusion, they had all agreed on one thing — Ventress appeared to have been intoxicated.

Paul, 18, had been a passenger on his friend’s motorbike when the accident occurred some time after 10.30pm.

He was flung about 40m from the point of impact, landing in the Sixth Avenue shopping centre car park, while the driver of the bike, Warren Swart, sustained life-threatening injuries.

Paul had been a much-loved matric pupil and an avid rugby player at DF Malherbe High School.

Witness Leandra Pickard, 41, said when she arrived at the scene shortly after 11.30pm, she believed Paul was already dead.

Blood was gushing from his wounds.

She then went to Warren to try to assist him.

But the teenager, who at that point was struggling to breathe, was only focused on the wellbeing of his friend.

“He just kept asking ‘where is Paul, where is my friend, is he OK?’,” Pickard said.

She said he had attempted to get up but could not stand on his nearly severed leg.

His lung had also collapsed.

“I held his hand and asked him if he was OK.

“He said he could barely breathe so I tried to get him to relax, but he just wanted to know if Paul was OK.”

Though Ventress said he had right of way when turning right into Sixth Avenue, and that it was Swart who had possibly skipped a red robot, the prosecution maintained Ventress had been in the wrong.  

Pickard said after some time she had confronted Ventress and his girlfriend, Margaret McDonald, who stood next to their vehicle as the chaos unfolded.

“I told him [Ventress], why are you just standing here, go help the people,” Pickard said.

She said Ventress became agitated when she accused him of murder.

The couple allegedly smelt of alcohol and smoke.

She then witnessed him walk across the road to the garage shop to buy himself a coke and a chocolate.

Walmer police Constable Xobisa Mki, who attended the scene, said Ventress’s eyes were bloodshot and he slurred his words.

Mki said she instructed him to remain at his vehicle while she and her partner attended to the injured parties, but when she turned around, he was gone.

Though Ventress’s counsel, advocate Terry Price SC, criticised the fact that she had only given a statement seven months later, Mki said she recalled the details of that night well because it was the only serious accident she had attended to that year.

Asked by Price if she ever considered that his client’s speech had been affected because of the shock, Mki said it was her experience that people in similar situations usually cried and said they were sorry.

Ventress did not.

McDonald — the only witness called on behalf of the defence — had been in the passenger seat on the night of the horror crash.

The Canadian citizen was dating Ventress and the two planned to get engaged and to emigrate.

She said after meeting her boyfriend’s colleagues for drinks and pizza, they went to McDonald’s in Summerstrand because they were still hungry.

It was on their return home that the accident occurred.

She said they were driving up Heugh Road and that the red light turned green about 20m before the intersection.

“Ross put on his indicator and slowly moved to the right.”

There was a huge bang and the airbags were released.

The vehicle eventually came to a stop.

She said they both got out of the car but after investigating what had happened, Ventress warned her to stay next to the vehicle.

They were both upset.

She denied he was intoxicated, and said he did not appear to be staggering and his speech was not slurred.

She had seen him under the influence before and this was not one of those times, she said.

The only reason he went to the shop, according to the woman, was because the tow truck driver had noticed he was in shock and advised him to get something sweet to eat.

In closing, Price argued that though  what had occurred on the evening in question had been tragic — a young life had been lost — the onus was not on the defence to prove that the driver of the motorbike had been in the wrong.

Furthermore, there was no evidence on record stipulating the exact time of the accident.

Magistrate Rene Esterhuizen agreed.

He said there were too many versions before him and in law, the accused had to be given the benefit of the doubt.

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