Two women who were held hostage at gunpoint by a “crazed” man at Westville Hospital have been awarded damages for pain and suffering.
However, their successful claim was not against the hospital they believed to be liable, but the attorney who did not prosecute their case in time, allowing it to become prescribed.
The attorney, Nathi Myeza, has subsequently been disbarred for unrelated misappropriation of trust funds.
Now lawyers acting for Khulile Mngadi and Khonani Nyawose are attempting to chase down the disgraced attorney to get him to pay the R789,000, plus costs, as ordered this week by acting Durban high court judge Garth Davis.
Attorney Sifiso Thusi, who took over Mngadi and Nyawose’s case after Myeza dropped the ball, said: “We have to try to get the money from him first. And if we are not able to get the money from him, which is a possibility, we will have to submit the claim to the fidelity fund. My clients will get their money eventually.”
Myeza — who also goes by the name of Nkosinathi Mngoma — has never filed any court papers in the matter and in 2022 default judgment was granted against him to pay 100% of the women's proven damages.
In evidence before Davis on the issue of damages it was established that a mentally ill man, armed with a firearm, entered the hospital in April 2012, demanding to see a doctor.
“Mayhem ensued and the gunman ended up in a small office with glass walls with four hostages,” Davis said.
Two of them were Mngadi and Nyawose, who were employed as “hostesses” responsible for patients dietary requirements.
The gunman ordered the hostages to lie on the ground. He fired a shot into the floor and the shrapnel struck Mngadi, injuring her in the buttock and foot.
He then told Mngadi to call a number. When no-one answered, he shot her in the arm at close range.
While the hostages were released over a period of time, Mngadi remained with the “deranged man” who held a gun to her head until finally a police sniper shot him in the head. He collapsed and died and Mngadi was rescued by the police.
That they had to endure a harrowing ordeal is without doubt true ... It must have been truly terrifying
— Judge Garth Davis
Davis said Mngadi and Nyawose had instructed Myeza to sue the hospital but he had failed to deliver summons in time. (Civil claims prescribe after three years in South Africa).
They then sued Myeza.
Davis said both women testified about the effect the incident had on their lives.
“That they had to endure a harrowing ordeal is without doubt true ... It must have been truly terrifying.”
He said Mngadi had testified she believed she had been “staring death in the face” and, while she had received counselling, still avoided talking about the incident and had exaggerated responses to loud noises.
Experts testified she required further treatment.
Nyawose was a “highly emotional” witness, Davis said.
“The terror of her ordeal has had a major impact on her life. She was not able to function, could not go back to Westville Hospital and effectively never went back to work.”
Davis said advocate Siyanda Khanyile, who appeared for the two women, had correctly pointed out the quantification of psychiatric injury was never straightforward. Their claims for emotional damages were not solely based on their harrowing trauma but also on the subsequent onset of depression and psychiatric challenges.
He awarded Mngadi R325,000 and Nyawose R210,000 for general damages (for emotional shock and trauma) and R127,000 each for future medical expenses and ordered Myezi to pay the costs.
Myezi was disbarred at the instance of the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society in August 2016 after three KwaZulu-Natal judges found he was not a fit and proper person to practise as an attorney. He had been admitted in 2001 and worked initially at the Road Accident Fund (RAF) until he opened his own company in 2006, mainly dealing with RAF claims.
Alarm bells rang when, in 2013, there was a deficit in his trust account of more than R1.8m.
He claimed this was because he had overpaid some clients. But an audit revealed this was not true and that in some instances his clients had received no money at all, even though the RAF had paid out.
According to the judgment, while he accepted culpability for the management of his business accounts and deficits in his trust accounts, he denied he had stolen any money. He claimed he was inexperienced, that he left his financial affairs in the hands of his bookkeeper, and had been absent from the office for long periods.
But the judges found he had been dishonest, not only in the use of his funds, but also in his dealings with the law society, the auditors and had not made a full disclosure to the court.
They also noted that he had appeared to change his name during the protracted court proceedings with no explanation.
They said the penalty of a strike-off was not too severe.
“What weighs heavily, apart from the dishonest conduct, is the fact that he failed to own up to such dishonesty and take responsibility for his actions,” the judges said.
Efforts to contact Myeza were unsuccessful.
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