Duxbury shot ‘at close range’

Durban - A Margate man allegedly killed by a truck driver in a road-rage incident on the M4 highway last year, was shot at close range in the face.

This was the evidence of police forensic analyst Warrant Officer Vinisha Lalbahadoor in the trial of Mohammed Sathar in the Durban Regional Court on Friday.

Sathar has pleaded not guilty to murdering Richard Duxbury and pointing a firearm. If found guilty, he could be jailed for at least 15 years.

Sathar said he was driving on the M4 when two “big white men carrying what looked like sticks” appeared in the middle of the road.

He slowed down and they jumped on to the steps of his truck. One began assaulting him through the window. Sathar reached for his gun and a shot went off.

Lalbahadoor said, based on the pathologist’s post mortem report and ballistics tests she had conducted, she determined Duxbury had been shot at a downward angle.

“The entry wound was in the forehead above the left eye and the exit at the back of the neck.

“From this I concluded the man was standing next to the driver’s side of the truck and the shooter was in the driver’s seat pointing the gun down.”

She said she would have expected the bullet’s trajectory to have been straight, not downward, if Duxbury had been standing on the truck’s step.

Earlier in the trial, Richard’s father, Brian, testified that he was with his son on the day of the murder.

Brian said they were driving southbound in a bakkie when Sathar’s truck pushed them off the road, forcing them to stop.

He said Richard was shot after getting out of the bakkie and approaching the truck.

Sathar then drove over his son’s legs and left the scene.

The trial was adjourned to March. Sathar is out on bail.

The Mercury