Investigator believes Chief Albert Luthuli was assaulted, not hit by train

One of the lead investigators into the death of ANC president-general Chief Albert Luthuli has slammed the train driver and his crew for interfering with a crime scene.

W/O Sunette Nel told the Pietermaritzburg high court on Tuesday that it was wrong for a goods train driver, Stephanus Lategan, and his crew to remove Luthuli's body from a railway track after they stopped the train.

Luthuli died in 1967, after he was officially hit by a train, a version his family is disputing.

“I do not know what informed them to remove the body because what they did was interference with a crime scene,” she said.

Prosecutor Siyabonga Ngcobo asked Nel about her thoughts on why Lategan and his staff members moved Luthuli's body. Nel said she would not know why they moved it.

Ngcobo asked her what her response would be on a theory that Lategan and his crew were trying to cover up something by moving the body. Nel refused to be drawn, saying she would not like to comment on cover-up allegations.

But in her evidence, Nel concluded that Luthuli had been assaulted and that his body was taken to the railway line.

“I suspect Luthuli was hit with a blunt object at the back of his head and his body was taken to a railway line. I also suspect people who were carrying him wanted to put his body in the middle of a railway tracks so that it would look like he had been killed by a train. My view is that while they carried him, they saw a train and dumped his body and fled,” she said.

Nel said she also suspected that the assailants assumed Luthuli was already dead when they carried him to the railway line. Nel said she referred to assailants because she did not think one person would be able to carry Luthuli due to his weight and height.

Nel told the court that the blood on Luthuli's body might have been removed before he was taken to Stanger Hospital.

Nel said people from whom they took statements told them that there was a pool of blood where Luthuli's body was found. However, an ace witness from Stanger Hospital who also gave evidence in the reopened inquest, Mohomed Manjoo, told the court that he did not see any blood on Luthuli when he arrived at the hospital.

Ngcobo asked Nel whether she thought the removal of blood from Luthuli's body was part of a cover-up. Nel said it was possible.

Nel echoed the evidence of previous witnesses who said the injuries were not consistent with being hit by a train.

She said Luthuli had defensive wounds, which suggested that he was assaulted. She said that when Luthuli was taken to the hospital, he had both his shoes. However, train or car victims usually lost both or one of their shoes on impact.

Judge Nompumelelo Radebe said she was aware of the belief that when people were hit by a cars, they usually lost one or both of their shoes.

The inquest continues.

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