Telling the hospital that he fell from some stairs at home, injuring his lower leg and knee, while telling the court that he fell into an uncovered manhole at night, did not end well for an Eastern Cape man, as the court, after hearing all the evidence, chose to believe the hospital records.

Baden Schoeman turned to the Gqeberha High Court where he claimed damages from the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality for its “negligence” by not covering a manhole along a sidewalk in the suburb of Windvogel.

He accused the municipality of not covering the manhole or cordoning it off, as he said the hole was not visible to him due to the presence of overgrowth and litter.

The municipality in turn denied that Schoeman had fallen into the hole as it said upon completion of the excavation work done there, it was adequately cordoned-off in a manner that would have sufficiently warned any person approaching that vicinity.

According to the municipality the hole was in any event outside the usual pedestrian path and was not part of any designated walkway. 

Schoeman meanwhile testified that on the night of the incident, he visited a friend who lived in the suburb where the hole was located.

According to him they had spent the night socialising, smoking a hookah pipe and drinking beers. In the early hours of the morning, on his way out to get hookah pipe coal at a house further up the street, he fell in the hole in a forward motion to the ground and was unable to get up. 

It was dark and the streetlights were off because they were broken, hence he did not see the hole before he stepped into it. He screamed for help and his friend came to his assistance and took him home. His father then took him to the Livingstone Hospital, where he was treated for a right knee injury.

Schoeman during cross-examination told the court the hole was not visible “due to the presence of overgrowth and litter”. But in his evidence in chief, his version was that he did not see the hole because it was dark. In desperation to rescue himself, he testified that the hole was “closed” with rubbish and litter and there was nothing that prevented him from falling. At the end he said he did not see the hole because of both the darkness and overgrowth and litter, the court noted.

Judge Nyameko Gqamana said it was apparent that his evidence on how he sustained the injuries was incongruous with the information contained in the hospital records. He was grilled about the fact that in the hospital records he did not mention that he fell into a municipal hole.

The information on the hospital records indicated that on admission, Schoeman informed the doctor at casualty that he sustained the injuries when he missed a step at home and fell.

The judge noted that Schoeman gave three different versions as to how he fell to the court, while he gave the hospital another version.

“In my overall assessment the plaintiff was an unreliable and poor witness,” the judge said in turning down his claim.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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