Publications
Partners
A policeman, who was moonlighting as a bouncer, should have arrested a Table View man if he thought he was intoxicated, instead of letting him drive away and allegedly knock down and kill a Swedish volunteer, the Cape Town Regional Court heard on Wednesday.
This was according to defence attorney Keith Gess, who questioned the version of Sergeant Elton Luyt during cross-examination in the trial of Darryl Futter.
Futter is accused of killing 19-year-old Aksel Otterbeck in Arum Road in Table View on the evening of December 14, 2016.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of culpable homicide, driving under the influence of alcohol (alternatively, exceeding the breath alcohol limit of 0.24mg/1 000ml), reckless and/or negligent driving and two counts of assault.
Earlier on Wednesday, Luyt testified that he had tried to stop Futter from leaving the Doodles Beachfront restaurant with a half-full glass of beer, but that he was met with aggression.
READ: Legacy of Swedish volunteer killed in Table View lives on
He said Futter had twice thrown punches at him, which he managed to block, and Futter swore at him.
According to him, Futter had been "heavily intoxicated" because he noticed that he had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and was unsteady on his feet.
Gess said this level of detail was not in Luyt's statement and he should have known better as a policeman to include it.
He accused Luyt of adding embellishments and changing his story.
He also asked why he did not arrest Futter at the time.
"Here's a guy who's not only assaulted you, but gets into a car intoxicated and drives off intoxicated, on your version. You do nothing about that," Gess charged.
Luyt said he had been at the restaurant as a doorman and was off-duty as a policeman.
Darryl Fouter leaves the Cape Town Regional Court. He is accused of knocking down and killing a 19-year-old Swedish volunteer in 2016. (Jenna Etheridge, News24)
"I have a 14-year-old son I am looking after. I am a single dad. I am not going to babysit a grown-ass man," he replied.
"The minute he took up a glass, you take responsibility for your actions. Luckily, these days you have Uber, or you drink at home… The minute he threw punches at me, I lost respect for him."
Gess pointed out that he should have laid a charge or made a statement at the very least.
A statement was only taken from Luyt in March 2017.
Gess said it was Futter and his friend's word against Luyt's.
He put it to Luyt that he was the one who had been aggressive and smacked his client's face right at the start, after which his client put his glass down and walked away.
Luyt said this was not true.
Continuing, Gess said that his client had turned around and asked Luyt why he hit him.
He said Futter's version was that Luyt then punched him in the face, he ended up unconscious on the floor and his friend had to wake him up.
Luyt replied that he never punched Futter in the face, nobody assisted Futter off the floor and when his friend came with the vehicle, Futter was already up and on his phone.
He added that he did not follow after Futter as he was leaving the restaurant because he had lost respect for him and did not want to be punched again.
Aksel Otterbeck with the children he met while volunteering. (Supplied)
Gess put it to Luyt that he had not stopped or arrested his client because he had not been intoxicated to begin with.
Luyt replied: "That's your version. I can only say what I saw, wheel spinning, high speed. Is that a sober person driving like that?"
Gess asked how he had felt when someone told him shortly after his client had left that someone had been killed.
"I was quite shocked," he replied.
Luyt was excused from the stand.
The trial is expected to resume on Thursday.
KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.
- FOLLOW News24 on Twitter
