The deadly competitive world of the tow truck industry came under the spotlight when a tow truck owner and his employee appeared in court for the murder of a rival operator.
|||The deadly competitive world of the tow truck industry came under the spotlight when a tow truck owner and his employee appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Wednesday for the murder of a rival operator, Viren Devcharan.
Prashim Ramnarayan and his employee, Githesh Ragunath, both pleaded not guilty.
The State alleges that Devcharan was struck with a golf club near the Protea Hotel in Hilton on the night of June 18, 2014, during an altercation between the two rival operators. He subsequently died in hospital.
In support of his not guilty plea, Ragunath, 19, confirmed that he was employed by Ramnarayan, as a mechanic and tow truck operator.
He explained that Devcharan owned Umgeni Towing, the main opposition to Ramnarayan’s business.
Ragunath alleged that during 2014, there were various incidents in which Devcharan and his employees verbally and physically abused him and other employees at Ramnarayan’s business.
“During these altercations, Devcharan threatened to kill me should I continue to take business away from him,” he said. On the night of the incident, Ragunath said he and Ramnarayan responded to an accident along Hilton Avenue in Hilton.
A vehicle belonging to Umgeni Towing also arrived at the scene, driven by a man identified as “Angelo”, he said.
“A fight broke out during which Angelo assaulted me. Devcharan’s brother, Sunil, also arrived on the scene driving an Umgeni Towing truck. Sunil was very aggressive and threatened to kill both me and Ramnarayan,” Ragunath said.
He also claimed Sunil assaulted Ramnarayan in the presence of police at the scene.
“At this stage, I took a golf club from the tow truck in order to defend myself as well as Ramnarayan. The situation was clearly volatile and the police intervened by instructing the tow truck operators from Umgeni Towing to leave the scene immediately,” Ragunath said.
He alleged that as Sunil was leaving, he threatened them, saying “it was not over and they would be back”.
Soon afterwards, the police also left the scene.
Ragunath said Devcharan then arrived in a private vehicle. “He was furious and started to assault Ramnarayan, threatening to kill him.”
Another person on the scene pulled Devcharan away from Ramnarayan, and both he and Ragunath managed to get into their tow truck.
Ragunath alleges that before they could drive off, Devcharan again started to assault Ramnarayan.
“I realised that Ramnarayan’s life was in danger and I got out of the tow truck carrying the golf club. Ramnarayan managed to kick Devcharan away from him, but he then focused his attention on me,” Ragunath said.
He claims that he saw Devcharan reach for something behind his back and thought he was going to shoot him.
He said he used the golf club to hit Devcharan.
“Everything happened in a matter of seconds, and I was uncertain as to where Devcharan was struck. I saw him stumble and fall against the tow truck,” Ragunath said.
He said he got back into his vehicle, still fearing that Devcharan might shoot them.
They then drove to the Hilton Police station where they reported what happened.
Ragunath claims at all times he acted within the reasonable grounds of self-defence.
Ramnarayan, 29, corroborated Ragunath’s version of events, and said Devcharan assaulted him on the day of the incident and threatened to kill him. However, Ramnarayan said he did not witness Ragunath hitting Devcharan with the golf club.
The case continues.
Daily News
