Man who caused Top Billing's Simba Mhere's death found guilty

The man accused of causing the death of Top Billing presenter Simba Mhere has been found guilty by the Randburg Magistrate's Court.

Magistrate David Mahango on Wednesday found that Preshalin Naidoo's version that the car he was driving on the morning of the incident had a mechanical failure was improbable.

"The court finds that the version of the accused that it was a mechanical defect that caused the accident‚ is far-fetched and improbable‚" Mahango said.

He said the 2015 incident was instead caused by human error. The court rejected testimony by the defence's accident reconstruction expert Stanley Bezuidenhout‚ who was present in court throughout the trial.

"Although the court accepts that Mr Bezuidenhout is an expert‚ the court has a problem with his evidence‚" Mahango said.

"He was at all material times present in court. The question the court is asking is: what value should it attach to his report and whether it is enough?"

Bezuidenhout had earlier testified that speed was not the cause of the accident and that it was a result of a missing nut in the right-front suspension of Naidoo's vehicle.

Mahango found Mhere's father Joseph's evidence to be credible. He described him as a reliable witness.

In reaching his decision‚ Mahango said he could not ignore the evidence of Car Track‚ a company that had recorded Naidoo's speed from when he started driving his car the night before the incident until the next morning when it occurred.