Bridge lawyer out of jail
No notice for victims’ kin
‘BRIDGE lawyer” Koobashan Naicker has been on parole for the past two months, much to the surprise of the families of the victims of his alcohol, cocaine and medication-influenced driving at Athlone Bridge in 2011.
They had not been consulted in the parole process to release Naicker, who was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
Singabakho Nxumalo, national Correctional Services spokesperson, said it was standard for every offender being considered for parole that there “should be dialogue between the victim and the offender”.
Michael Hunter, who lost his daughter, Carmen, a dance teacher, said his family had heard “by the by” that Naicker was in circulation in the Durban community.
“We certainly would have liked to have been told,” he said, adding that after hearing about Naicker through the grapevine he asked the prosecutor from his trial to make enquiries. Hunter said he was led to believe that victim participation in parole applications did not apply to culpable homicide cases.
Naicker’s lawyer, Mervin Maistry, said his client, who had pleaded guilty to three charges of culpable homicide as well as to drunk driving and reckless and negligent driving, “followed the procedure as per the law and was released”. “He knows nothing further.” Naicker, a lawyer, was also responsible for the deaths of Gillian Bell, 32, and her son Connor, 8.
A family spokesperson said they, too, did not know about Naicker’s release until Hunter contacted them.
Hunter said he hoped Naicker would be decent enough to stick to his parole conditions, recalling that witnesses testified that he had broken his bail conditions when his driver’s licence had been suspended. He had even transported schoolchildren.
“I don’t really know what to do,” Hunter said. We don’t have control of it but we don’t want him messing up other people’s lives.
“I’d just like to know there is some control over it (his parole).”
At Naicker’s sentencing in 2014, the magistrate dismissed evidence in mitigation from Naicker’s partner, Patti Pillay, that he was remorseful.
However, Maistry said this week that Naicker had always been remorseful.
“This was mentioned in the trial,” he said.
“He is still very much remorseful for what happened and he is mindful of the lives lost, every day of his life.”
Maistry added that his client was not ready to be interviewed.
“Being back at home has its challenges but he is taking each day as it comes.”