Reshall Jimmy court case continues

Update

GEORGE NEWS - The inquest into the death of Reshall Jimmy (33) continued in the Western Cape High Court this week as United States-based engineer, John Loud, began testifying on Monday.

Jimmy died when the Kuga he was travelling in caught alight in Wilderness while he was on holiday in 2015. The exact origin of the fire has been the main focus of the inquest led by Advocate Gerrie Nel on behalf of the Jimmy family.

No component failure Loud says
Loud, who said his findings were based on tests done in the United States and South Africa, testified that he'd found no physical evidence of any wiring or component failure.

He also said it was impossible for the fire to originate in the front section of the vehicle as a key electrical feature there, the body control module (BCM), was still intact.

This contradicts findings by an expert acting on behalf of the family, that this vehicle component disintegrated during the blaze. According to Loud, the blaze that took Jimmy's life exceeded 1 080 degrees Celsius.

Legal eagles reprimanded
On Tuesday court started with both legal representatives, Nel and Advocate André Bezuidenhout (Ford), being reprimanded by Western Cape High Court Judge Robert Henney for "playing cat and mouse over evidence".

This comes after Bezuidenhout complained that the Jimmy family's legal team had not handed over all the photographs taken during investigation.

Nel countered that by saying although one particular picture had not been included in a collection handed to Ford's legal team, it had been included in a document previously handed to them. Nel also complained that Ford had not handed over all the photographs.

Henney said that it was not a criminal trial and told both legal teams to give each other what they needed.

"Ultimately, it is an inquisitorial process, not adversarial, and it is becoming adversarial. This is not a criminal trial," he said.

The inquest has been set down to determine whether a case is to be made against Ford for Jimmy's death.

The inquest continues.

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