Daily Dispatch

‘Dog-eating’ file goes missing

MEC: medical records taken by a police officer

- By ZWANGA MUKHUTHU

AMEDICAL file detailing the extent of trauma and injuries suffered by two men allegedly forced by a Komga game farm manager to eat a dead dog has gone missing.

Details in the file were meant to form part of the state’s case against Tyityaba Nature Reserve manager Karl Krull.

Eastern Cape social developmen­t MEC Nancy Sihlwayi revealed this in an address to about 300 people outside the Komga Magistrate’s Court yesterday after Krull and alleged poachers Lwando Folokwe and Akhona Dyantyi made a brief appearance.

Sihlwayi said the file had reportedly gone missing from the Komga hospital, where medical tests were conducted on Folokwe and Dyantyi on the morning of August 23.

The two men, who face a charge of illegal hunting, told a magistrate that Krull had forced them to eat their dog after he caught them on the reserve with a dead bushbuck.

They alleged Krull had shot their two dogs before forcing them to eat one of them.

Krull is facing charges of attempted murder, assault, pointing a firearm and crimen injuria.

Sihlwayi’s department has been actively involved in the case and took the two men to see a general practition­er.

As part of his investigat­ion into the matter, investigat­ing officer Captain Tersius van Staden also took the men for medical tests at the Komga hospital.

Sihlwayi said it was when she wanted to compare the tests conducted at Komga hospital that she found the file was missing.

“The medical records were taken by a police officer,” she claimed.

“We don’t know if he has been bought but the medical records are no longer at the hospital.”

Eastern Cape health spokesman Siyanda Manana confirmed the file was missing.

“We shall launch an investigat­ion as to what led to its disappeara­nce.

“The file contains the doctor’s notes he wrote after examining the two patients,” he said.

Folokwe and Dyantyi were seen by a doctor on August 23.

Their examinatio­n was extensive and included tests to check whether there had been any “foreign meat” in their stomachs, Sihlwayi said.

Police spokesman Captain Mluleki Mbi said: “The investigat­ing officer is not aware of this so-called missing file.

“The standard procedure would be for the hospital to let any person leaving the hospital premises with the file to sign for it.

“Unless we get the name of the person they handed the file to we won’t be able to assist.”

The court case against Krull and his co-accused, employee Siza Masentile, was postponed to November 22.

The case against Dyantyi and Folokwe was postponed to November 28.

Both matters were postponed for further investigat­ion. —

 ?? Picture: MICHAEL PINYANA ?? IN THE DOCK: Seated facing the camera are Siza Masentile and Karl Krull, both accused of attempted murder, assault and crime injuria. Against the wall to the left are Lwando Folokwe and Akhona Dyantyi, accused of illegal hunting, at the Komga...
Picture: MICHAEL PINYANA IN THE DOCK: Seated facing the camera are Siza Masentile and Karl Krull, both accused of attempted murder, assault and crime injuria. Against the wall to the left are Lwando Folokwe and Akhona Dyantyi, accused of illegal hunting, at the Komga...

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