Kayser ‘lucky to be alive’

ANC’S ANDILE LUNGISA GETS TWO YEARS FOR GLASS JUG ATTACK Former mayoral committee member has short-term memory loss.

ANC councillor Andile Lungisa, who was convicted of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and sentenced to two years in jail, has brought an application for leave to appeal both his conviction and sentence.

Lungisa was sentenced to an effective two years behind bars after the court found he intentionally smashed a glass jug over the head of former mayoral committee member for transport, Rano Kayser, during a chaotic 2016 Nelson Mandela Bay council meeting.

Kayser sustained multiple lacerations to his head and neck, with pictures at the time showing him drenched in blood.

Evidence presented before court included a video, which showed how Lungisa slammed the jug over Kayser’s head, before he fled, and how Kayser fell backwards and landed on the floor.

In handing down sentence yesterday, Magistrate Morne Cannon stressed that the case was a criminal matter and not a political one.

Cannon took into consideration that Kayser had sustained serious injuries, which could have been “fatal and had catastrophic consequences”. “Even now he [Kayser] testified that he still has migraines and short-term memory loss two years after the inci- dent. The doctor also said that he was lucky to be alive”.

Cannon said that a noncustodial sentence would overemphasise Lungisa’s personal circumstances. Lungisa was later taken down to the court’s holding cells. – ANA