Durban nightclub beating case thrown out

Durban - It took almost a decade to bring Travis Nel to trial on a 2009 murder charge but just five days into proceedings, he on Friday walked out of the Durban Regional Court a free man.

The State closed its case against Nel on Thursday and his attorney, Carl van der Merwe, subsequently moved for a discharge, in terms of section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

This section of the act gives the court the power to return a verdict of not guilty “if, at the close of the case for the prosecution, the court is of the opinion that there is no evidence that the accused committed the offence referred to in the charge or any offence of which he may be convicted on the charge”.

Durban Regional Court Magistrate Sharon Marks said on Friday the legal position was that if the State's case was hopeless, it could not continue.

John King died on the morning of August 2, 2009, outside what was then the Eighties nightclub, after a rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand at Kings Park rugby stadium.

He was initially thought to have died of natural causes, but a post mortem identified his cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head.

Forty-year-old King, who was from Ireland, had been in South Africa on business at the time. Nel, who is from South Africa but lives in the UK, was visiting Durban at the time.

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He was first arrested in March 2010 but then the charges against him were withdrawn until December 2016, when police arrested him again.

At trial, the State had relied heavily on the evidence of Hermanus Swart.

Swart had told the court he first saw Nel at One Stop - a bar at the stadium - that night.

Later, he said, he saw him at Eighties. He told the court he saw Nel punch King in the jaw.

Swart said King then fell, hit his neck against a couch and slammed into the floor.

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But Marks on Friday said Swart was not a good witness. He had changed his version on the stand and, said Marks, Nel was not at One Stop that night.

She said even the investigating officer had conceded he was at a wedding at that time.

Marks said the “photographic” identity parade was not helpful, as the witness who pointed Nel out was never called to testify and Nel’s photograph - taken from his Facebook page - could not be compared to the other mugshot style photographs used.

She also questioned why an inquest recommended by two prosecutors, was never held and witnesses, including two colleagues of King’s who were with him at the time, were never called.

“There is no purpose in putting the accused on his defence. It is a tragic situation for the family of the deceased but the full circumstances of the matter are unknown,” Marks said.

The Mercury