A witness in Doctor Khumalo’s drunken-driving trial told the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday that Khumalo was drunk when he crashed into a taxi.
”He was drunk, he smelled of alcohol, he couldn’t sit still, he kept on singing ‘side by side’ and he was very aggressive,” said Sinah Motlatsi Shongwe, who was a passenger in the taxi into which Khumalo crashed.
Khumalo, a former Bafana Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs soccer player, is on trial after he crashed his BMW into the back of a taxi in May 2008, injuring four people including a pregnant woman.
The state alleges that Khumalo was driving three times over the legal limit at the time of the accident, and he was charged with drunken and reckless or negligent driving.
Shongwe described Khumalo’s behaviour at the accident scene as aggressive, saying he had refused to allow paramedics to check his blood pressure or to take a breathalyser test.
”He pushed the breathalyser out of his mouth [with his tongue],” Shongwe said and demonstrated the act to the court.
She told the court the situation became chaotic with the arrival of Khumalo’s friend, former soccer player Solomon Masinga.
”I remember seeing him standing by the door of the ambulance … He told him [Khumalo] not to allow the paramedics to subject him to the same treatment as ours. He said that was within his rights.”
Shongwe told the court they were all taken to Flora Clinic on Gauteng’s West Rand, where later a paramedic informed them that a blood specimen had been drawn from Khumalo.
The trial continues. — Sapa