JOHANNESBURG – Duduzane Zuma’s culpable homicide trial got underway at Randburg Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to the charge of culpable homicide.
It is now emerging that his defense will argue that his model of Porsche is prone to losing grip in wet conditions. This is a counter-argument to the prosecutors version that he was driving recklessly on the night he collided with a taxi in Johannesburg.
Commuter Phumzile Dube died on that night, while Nanki Mashaba died later in hospital. Zuma had initially been charged with two counts of culpable homicide, but one was dropped at the start of the trial.
Read: Charge Dropped: Zuma off the Hook in one Culpable Homicide Charge
His defense referred the court to an article in an international motoring publication, that suggested that the Porsche 911’s wide and lightweight tires could aquaplane in wet conditions, something many of its drivers were unaware of.
The wet conditions were confirmed by the taxi driver, who said that it was raining heavily that night and that streams of water were flowing across the highway moments before the crash.
Duduzane’s car was a 2007 model of the Porsche 911.
