Durban — Being led in his evidence by State Prosecutor Rowen (CORR) Souls, the son of a Hillcrest man who was shot and killed in a road rage incident has told the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court that neither he nor his father had weapons on the day that Anthony Edward Ball allegedly shot his father.
Ball is on trial for the murder of Dean Charnley, who was 49 years old at the time of his death last year on Everton Road in Kloof.
Charnley’s son, Seth, who was 18 years old at the time of the incident, had been with his father in the Nissan that Ball allegedly blocked from overtaking his Subaru on the M13.
On Thursday, in his evidence-in-chief, Seth said that he believed his father’s intention was not to hurt Ball when he approached the pensioner’s car.
“I feel that my dad wanted to speak to him and ask him why he would put our lives in danger by brake-checking us and swerving in front of us. My dad is not a fighter.”
Seth’s testimony was also different from what Ball had said in his statement giving reasons for his not guilty plea.
The pensioner had described how he was allegedly tailgated by the Nissan Charnley had been driving on the M13, and when on Everton Road, Charnley had stopped, forcing Ball’s Subaru to come to a halt.
The pensioner further stated that Charnley exited his car and came to his Subaru, and attacked it violently on the roof and door, to which the pensioner fired a warning shot through his open window. He said it was then that Charnley tried to disarm him and dragged him out of his car.
According to the pensioner, the fatal shot had gone off while they were in a scuffle.
Seth told the court that he had been seated in the passenger seat of the Nissan and had been watching over his shoulder as well as in the rear-view mirror at the events that led to his father’s shooting.
He said at no point did Ball try to get out of his car, nor was he pulled out of his car, adding that there had been no scuffle.
“He was unarmed. While walking to the Subaru, he was waving his hands alongside his body, and he got to the car and started speaking. He hit the roof of the car, where the roof meets the door panel. After he hit the car, I heard a gunshot go off, and my father's right hand went up.”
The trial continues.
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