Simon ordered to pay up

THE deadly car crash that stopped the boxing career of former world champion boxer Harry Simon in its tracks almost four years ago had another sequel in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday – a judgement of over N$128 000 was granted against Simon.

Two and a half weeks ago, the High Court granted the State leave to appeal for an increase of the two-year prison sentence that Simon received in the Walvis Bay Regional Court in August last year as a result of the fatal crash, in which three Belgian tourists were killed. Yesterday, another sucker punch was landed against Simon in the High Court – this time in a case in which Simon was sued by the insurance company that had to compensate the owners of the rental vehicle involved in a collision with Simon’s car on November 21 2002.Neither Simon nor any lawyer representing him was present for yesterday’s hearing before Judge Sylvester Mainga.At the end of the hearing, during which two witnesses testified about their investigation into the cause of the collision that claimed the three Belgian tourists’ lives and about the damage that was caused to the tourists’ rental vehicle, Judge Mainga granted a judgement of N$128 085 against Simon.Insurance company Mutual and Federal, which insured the vehicle in which the ill-fated party of Belgians was travelling on the road between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund when the collision occurred, sued Simon in the name of the vehicle’s owner, Into Namibia Car Rental, to be compensated for the money that the company had to pay out to the vehicle’s owners as a result of the crash.Most of the testimony that Judge Mainga heard yesterday was given by Wilna Badenhorst, an accident reconstruction expert who compiled a report on the collision in early 2004 at the request of the National Forensic Science Institute of Namibia.Badenhorst told the court that in early November 2003 she examined both damaged vehicles – a Mercedes-Benz ML500 in which Simon had been driving when the collision took place, and a Nissan SE 3.0 Hardbody Double Cab four-wheel-drive bakkie in which the Belgians were – and also the crash scene at the Walvis Bay-Swakopmund road’s turn-off to Langstrand.The physical evidence that she saw – primarily the nature of the damage to the two vehicles, gouge marks that could still be seen on the road at the crash site almost a year after the event, and the places where the two vehicles came to a standstill after the collision – led her to conclude that Simon’s vehicle had been travelling at a speed of at least 165 kilometres an hour at the moment the collision took place, she told the Judge.She also concluded that at the moment when Simon’s vehicle crashed head-on into the Nissan bakkie, the Mercedes-Benz was on the right-hand side of the road and was moving in a north-westerly direction, as if it was turning back into the left-hand lane.At that point of the road, no overtaking is allowed, and a speed limit of 80 km/h is in force, she pointed out.Badenhorst’s findings correspond with the findings that another traffic accident analyst, JP Strydom, reached in a report on the same accident.Strydom’s report did not form part of the evidence that was placed before Judge Mainga, though.Strydom also concluded that Simon’s vehicle was in the lane of the oncoming traffic – the lane where the Belgians were waiting to turn off to Langstrand – and was travelling in a line pointing towards the left-hand side of the road.Strydom however calculated the speed of Simon’s vehicle to have been about 180 km/h.In terms of the judgement given against him yesterday, Simon will have to pay N$128 085 to Into Namibia.That amount also started increasing at an interest rate of 20 per cent a year as from yesterday.Simon was further ordered to pay Into Namibia’s legal costs in the case.Simon’s High Court appeal against the Walvis Bay Regional Court judgement in which he was convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, and also the State’s appeal against that sentence, remain pending.At this stage, no date has been set yet for the hearing of the two appeals.Harald Geier, instructed by Behrens & Pfeiffer Attorneys, represented Into Namibia yesterday.Yesterday, another sucker punch was landed against Simon in the High Court – this time in a case in which Simon was sued by the insurance company that had to compensate the owners of the rental vehicle involved in a collision with Simon’s car on November 21 2002.Neither Simon nor any lawyer representing him was present for yesterday’s hearing before Judge Sylvester Mainga. At the end of the hearing, during which two witnesses testified about their investigation into the cause of the collision that claimed the three Belgian tourists’ lives and about the damage that was caused to the tourists’ rental vehicle, Judge Mainga granted a judgement of N$128 085 against Simon.Insurance company Mutual and Federal, which insured the vehicle in which the ill-fated party of Belgians was travelling on the road between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund when the collision occurred, sued Simon in the name of the vehicle’s owner, Into Namibia Car Rental, to be compensated for the money that the company had to pay out to the vehicle’s owners as a result of the crash.Most of the testimony that Judge Mainga heard yesterday was given by Wilna Badenhorst, an accident reconstruction expert who compiled a report on the collision in early 2004 at the request of the National Forensic Science Institute of Namibia.Badenhorst told the court that in early November 2003 she examined both damaged vehicles – a Mercedes-Benz ML500 in which Simon had been driving when the collision took place, and a Nissan SE 3.0 Hardbody Double Cab four-wheel-drive bakkie in which the Belgians were – and also the crash scene at the Walvis Bay-Swakopmund road’s turn-off to Langstrand.The physical evidence that she saw – primarily the nature of the damage to the two vehicles, gouge marks that could still be seen on the road at the crash site almost a year after the event, and the places where the two vehicles came to a standstill after the collision – led her to conclude that Simon’s vehicle had been travelling at a speed of at least 165 kilometres an hour at the moment the collision took place, she told the Judge.She also concluded that at the moment when Simon’s vehicle crashed head-on into the Nissan bakkie, the Mercedes-Benz was on the right-hand side of the road and was moving in a north-westerly direction, as if it was turning back into the left-hand lane.At that point of the road, no overtaking is allowed, and a speed limit of 80 km/h is in force, she pointed out.Badenhorst’s findings correspond with the findings that another traffic accident analyst, JP Strydom, reached in a report on the same accident.Strydom’s report did not form part of the evidence that was placed before Judge Mainga, though.Strydom also concluded that Simon’s vehicle was in the lane of the oncoming traffic – the lane where the Belgians were waiting to turn off to Langstrand – and was travelling in a line pointing towards the left-hand side of the road.Strydom however calculated the speed of Simon’s vehicle to have been about 180 km/h.In terms of the judgement given against him yesterday, Simon will have to pay N$128 085 to Into Namibia.That amount also started increasing at an interest rate of 20 per cent a year as from yesterday.Simon was further ordered to pay Into Namibia’s legal costs in the case.Simon’s High Court appeal against the Walvis Bay Regional Court judgement in which he was convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, and also the State’s appeal against that sentence, remain pending.At this stage, no date has been set yet for the hearing of the two appeals.Harald Geier, instructed by Behrens & Pfeiffer Attorneys, represented Into Namibia yesterday.