The daughter of the late ANC leader, Inkosi Albert Luthuli has told the Pietermaritzburg High Court that the family believes that her father was hit at the back of his head with a steel object.

Doctor Albertina Luthuli, a medical doctor, is testifying in the reopened inquest into her father’s death.

This comes after the 1967 inquest found that Luthuli died after being struck by a train as he was walking along a railway track.

The re-opened inquest is looking into the circumstances surrounding the death of the ANC leader.

Evidence Leader, Advocate Annah Chuene read Doctor Luthuli’s statement in court, describing what she believes happened on the railway bridge over the Mvoti River.

“We are convinced as the family that when he was holding on the rail, an instrument was used by someone in the train to hit him on the back of the head. The instrument that was used to hit him on his head was heavy enough to crack his skull, and as he struggled to survive the hit, he held more on the rail and would have twisted his hands and wrist and perhaps even the lower arms causing damage to those parts. The loss of blood would result in him becoming faint and finally falling on the pedestrian steel plate,” says Chuene.