Durban - The family of Zayyaan Sayed believes justice will be served for them and others like them if Professor Peter Beale is successfully prosecuted.
Beale, a paediatric surgeon, was charged with murder and fraud after the death of 10-year-old Zayyaan.
The surgeon appeared in the Johannesburg High Court for the first time on Friday, after his case was moved from the magistrate's court last month.
The Sayed family issued a statement to the POST this week, via Sinen Mnguni, their spokesperson, praising law officials.
“We are very pleased with the efforts of the dedicated members of the South African Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) who have acted in an exemplary manner from the onset of this matter.
“We, as a family, have worked very diligently and resiliently to ensure that this matter, and the memory of our beloved son, does not become just another statistic. Further, that justice is not only done, but seen to be done, in particular, for all the parents who have lost their children, or had their lives turned upside down under similar circumstances to ours."
They said they hoped Beale’s prosecution would restore the confidence of the average South African in the country’s justice system.
In October 2019, Zayyaan underwent a routine laparoscopic procedure for acid reflux at Netcare’s Park Lane Private Hospital. After nearly a four-hour surgery, his lungs collapsed and he died a short while later.
Beale, 74, and co-accused Dr Abdulhay Munshi, 76, an anaesthetist, were accused of negligence and suspended from the hospital after investigations by Netcare and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Zayyaan’s parents opened a charge of culpable homicide against the doctors.
In September last year, Munshi was killed in Orange Grove. It was alleged that a motorist knocked into the back of his vehicle and when Munshi got out of the car, he was shot six times. Apparently, no valuables were taken. While the motive for the killing remains unknown, Beale went into hiding.
Last month, the State amended Beale’s charge sheet. It changed the charge of culpable homicide to murder and added a second count of fraud.
Phindi Mjonondwane, the regional spokesperson for the NPA, said Beale appeared briefly before Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng.
According to the indictment, the State will set to prove that Beale failed to adhere to his Hippocratic Oath and is therefore guilty of the charges levelled against him.
On count 1 of murder, the State alleges: “In that upon or about October 11, 2019, and at or near the Park Lane Netcare Clinic, Parktown, Johannesburg, in the district of Johannesburg Central and in the Regional Division of Gauteng, the accused did unlawfully and intentionally cause the death of a 10-year-old male person, Zayyaan Sayed.”
On count 2 of fraud, the State will argue that Beale unlawfully and with the intention to defraud, gave out and misrepresented the pathology result of a distal esophageal biopsy.
“In truth and in fact when the accused gave out and pretended as aforementioned, he knew that the report from Lancet Laboratories… revealed that there were no features of intestinal metaplasia and that there were no features of dysplasia or malignancy in the sections of the distal oesophageal biopsy… and consequently did not necessitate the laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication procedure to be conducted,” said the indictment.
The State is expected to call more than 30 witnesses in a bid to prove its case.
The case was adjourned to March 19 for a pretrial conference.
The medical fraternity has petitioned for the case to be dropped. It claimed that it would make doctors fearful and reluctant to take on high-risk cases.
Dr William Oosthuizen, of the South African Medical Association (Sama), said treating Beale as a common criminal would do more harm than good.
“We were disturbed even at the culpable homicide charge. Murder means to kill with intent. It is unfathomable that the NPA would think that any doctor would go into any operating room to intentionally kill or harm a patient. To jump in to charge a doctor for murder is just unacceptable.”
He said that for Zayyaan to have lost his life was a tragedy but that course of action would be harmful.
“Doctors were scared at first and now this news will certainly not bode well. Doctors are scarce in South Africa and now those who are still here will be apprehensive to take on high-risk cases in the future. I certainly think it is not a wise move and a detriment to society.”
He said Sama would continue with its petition to have the case dropped.
Many doctors said an HPCSA investigation should have been held before a criminal case was opened.
Dr Rinesh Chetty, a specialist orthopaedic surgeon from Durban North, who started the #dropitandwait petition in support of Beale and Munshi, said the campaign breached 80 000 supporters when the charge was changed to murder.
“It should be noted that the media reporting and general feeling from the public have neutralised in light of the new charges. There is definitely a move to shy away from making assumptions and a now quest for the truth backed by evidence has emerged. It is in the public’s interest to answer this case and make sure all the evidence is heard.”
He said that at that point, it did not matter whether the HPCSA inquiry was held.
“Every South African citizen, reporter, health-care worker, patient and lawyer needs answers, evidence and a guide to the legal thought process that led to a final high court charge of murder. It will set the benchmark for the future of medical practice, negligence claims and patient expectations, especially should they require future surgical intervention of any kind.”
The Post