The legal team for murder-accused paediatric surgeon Peter Beale said the father of a 10-year-old boy who died after being operated on by him wants him “prosecuted at all costs”.
Beale’s trial continued in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) this week, where he faces three counts of murder and two of fraud – related to the deaths of three children – and is accused of acting recklessly and operating unnecessarily for financial gain.
In the stand on Monday, Mohammadh Sayed, whose son, Zayaan died after surgery Beale performed in 2019, said he only received test results on his son several days after the boy’s surgery and subsequent death.
EWN reports that under cross-examination, Beale’s counsel, Advocate Barry Roux, pointed to a statement Sayed made in the immediate aftermath in which he was already calling for a criminal prosecution.
He said that they would argue that “this was going to be, from inception, a prosecution at all costs, irrespective of the facts”.
EWN article – Victim’s father wants Beale prosecuted at all costs (Open access)
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Defence in Peter Beale trial questions mother’s memory
State witness ‘biased’ and ‘reckless’, Beale’s lawyer claims
Beale ignored advice not to operate on children, state claims