Durban — Kista Chetty cried and said he was sorry and it had been a mistake as a doctor in the emergency room at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital treated him for the burn wounds that he had sustained after allegedly setting alight and killing his family.
This was the testimony of Dr Thembelihle Jili, who led evidence last week in the trial against the man charged with the 2021 murders of his wife Elisha Naidoo, 39, his 13-year-old daughter Jadene, 9-year-old son Jordan, 8-year-old daughter Aarav and his 3-year-old nephew Aldrin.
At the time of the incident, the family lived in a bedroom that they rented at a house on Kidstone Place in Phoenix.
Chetty’s brother-in-law Deon Naidoo and others lived in the lounge of the same house, there were 12 of them in total living in the house.
Jili told the court that in tears Chetty explained that he wanted to kill himself after having an argument with his wife.
“He said he poured petrol on himself and set himself alight and his wife pulled him by the jacket and the fire spread throughout the room.”
Evidence from Naidoo was that he was asleep on the couch and he was awoken by screams and when he opened his eyes “the accused opened the bedroom door and the room was ablaze and immediately the lounge began catching fire.”
He also told the court that the accused had said that he wanted to kill himself by burning himself with petrol inside the bedroom.
“He said that he poured a little petrol into a cap onto his shirt and burnt himself and when he realised he was burning he took off his T-shirt and it landed on the container which had petrol in and flames got bigger and bigger.”
Chetty’s version was similar to what Naidoo had told the court. He said he poured the petrol into the lid of the 5-litre container and then onto his chest, set himself alight and threw his T-shirt on the ground but it landed on the container and there was an explosion which set the room ablaze.
On Monday the cross-examination of a fire expert who has testified that all three versions were unlikely is to continue.
Before his cross-examination began Warrant Officer Siphelele Simphiwe Dube attached to the fire subsection told the court that on the scene they had found the 5-litre container charred on one side.
“The other side was not burnt, this was because there was a blanket close by which means that the part that is burnt was exposed to fire and the part slightly burnt was shielded from the heat and fire… The material shielded the container… also taking into consideration that the fire was suppressed or extinguished before all the contents were totally consumed by the fire.”
Chetty’s version was that there was a small amount of petrol in the container, however Dube’s testimony suggested this was not so.
He said on the scene they seized clothes with petrol and that where the container was lying there was a spill all around.
“There was too much petrol inside the container, if it was a little amount it would have all burnt… When on scene we normally use a fire dog, but if we can smell the accelerant we usually don’t require a fire dog. When we were doing our investigation on the scene and picked up clothes we could smell the petrol.”
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