A Soweto man has failed to win damages against state-owned rail company Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) for injuries he suffered 10 years ago while “staff riding” on one of its trains.
Leka Komako, then 30 years old, was travelling to work in January 2012 from Merafe station in Soweto to Newlands.
It was during that trip at Croesus station, that he fell from the moving train and sustained serious injuries.
Komako then claimed damages from Prasa, alleging that its negligence caused his injuries. However, Prasa rebuffed his claim and argued that the incident in question was caused by Komako’s own actions in that he was traveling unlawfully outside the carriage between coaches as against inside of a coach.
The case of Prasa is that Komako was “staff riding”, which is a colloquialism denoting the act of riding a train by hanging onto the outside of a coach or riding on the roof or on the space between coaches.
Prasa then told the court that Komako was fully aware of the risks involved in travelling outside the passenger carrying carriages, and despite this knowledge, and whilst appreciating the risk, the plaintiff had embarked on his journey on the train by travelling between coaches.
In its defence, Prasa brought a security guard, who was on duty on the day of the accident, and who testified that he saw Komako riding between coaches when the train arrived at Croesus station. The security guard’s version of events was supported by other witnesses.
Judge LR Adams this week dismissed Komako’s claim, falling short of saying his version that he was pushed from a moving train was nonsensical.
“What is more though is that all things considered, the plaintiff’s version seems to me to be an inherently improbable one. His version that he was pushed off the train onto the platform and then inexplicable landed on the space between the platform and the railway tracks makes very little, if any sense.
“In my view, this sequence of events is a physical impossibility, especially if regard is had to the common cause fact that there would have been insufficient space between the train and the platform for a person to fall onto the floor beneath the platform.
“Moreover, his version that he was jostled out of the train onto the platform by other passengers, suggests that his momentum would have propelled him away from the train and not back towards the train.
“The sum total of the aforegoing is that the plaintiff’s version is inherently improbable and for that reason alone, it stands to be rejected,” the judgment reads in part.
The story will be updated when we get Komako’s response.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here
