Elderly OR Tambo airport assault victim dies

The family of the 71-year-old man left critically injured following a fight with an Uber driver over a parking spot at OR Tambo International Airport says that he died on Sunday evening.

“After fighting to the very end‚ it is with great sadness (we confirm that) Zalman Orlianski passed away at 17h51 on 16 September‚” a family statement read.

Orlianski had been an engineer.

He was the father-in-law of Daniel Witz‚ a well-known attorney who represented Khuli Chana after the rapper was shot at by police officials with an automatic rifle‚ who had pursued the musician in a case of mistaken identity in 2013.

A financial settlement was reached with police in 2016.

The suspect is due to appear in court on Monday.

Airport spokesperson Leigh Gunkel-Keuler said in a statement on Wednesday that the elderly man had sustained head injuries during the altercation‚ which took place on Sunday a week ago at 10.12am‚ apparently over a parking space in front of the airport terminal building.

Punches were thrown‚ while airport security attempted to separate them.

Last week‚ Uber SA confirmed that the man who was caught on CCTV camera beating the elderly man was one of their drivers.

The driver’s access to the app was immediately suspended.