THE LEGALITIES
Dr Llewelyn Curlewis, a senior law lecturer at the University of Pretoria, says Sandy-Lee could be charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm – if the man she ran over files a charge against her.
Should he do so, the police would do an investigation, take statements from witnesses and compile a docket to be sent to the prosecutor who would then have to make the call on whether to go ahead with the case against her.
If the complainant doesn’t file a charge, Curlewis says there’s no need for the state to intervene as the man Sandy-Lee hit with her car wasn’t seriously injured.
If he had died, however, Sandy-Lee could possibly have been charged with murder – although whether she would have been found guilty is another matter.
Curlewis says you can do what is necessary to protect your own life and that of your family or your property. “In the worst-case scenario, this includes killing a person if your life or the life of a family member or a third party is in danger.”
He says he believes Sandy-Lee acted in self-defence.
“You can’t expect a person to sit back and do nothing while they’re confronted by a perpetrator or a potential robber or when their property or life is being threatened,” he says.
Advocate Deon Pool says there are two criteria when it comes to the self-defence argument.
The first is that you’re allowed to defend yourself if there’s an imminent attack on yourself or if your property is threatened.
The second is you must not use more force than necessary to avoid or ward off that imminent attack.
He says the facts of each case have to be looked at and “a holistic determination” has to be made.
In Sandy-Lee’s incident, a case could be made out of the fact she “acted under some kind of a non-pathological criminal incapacity”.
“In other words, this occurs if the stresses you are under cause you to lose the capacity to determine the difference between right and wrong and to act accordingly.
“I don’t particularly think there’s a case to be made for her driving over this person to stop him – this is a very traumatic experience for her so good luck to anyone who decides to prosecute her,” Pool says.