RAF liable for farm worker's tree branch eye injury

THE Road Accident Fund has been found liable for damages suffered by a farmworker struck by a thorn from a tree branch in her eye while being transported on the back of an open truck.

Shereen Booysen turned to the Western Cape High Court where she claimed damages against the Fund, as she claimed the driver of the vehicle was negligent by swerving for oncoming traffic and the vehicle hit the tree branches on the pavement.

The driver said that he had stopped before the tree line to drop passengers. The RAF, in defending the matter, claimed Booysen’s eye was not injured by the branch, but by something which the wind blew into her eye while she was walking.

Booysen testified that she was a seasonal worker at a farm and her employer provided transport for workers, both to and from work. The driver, Ricardo Baartman, collected her and other farm workers daily and later took them back home in Paarl.

On the day of the incident, she and her co-workers were seated in the cargo bed area at the back of a truck. The cargo bed had no canopy or other covering.

Baartman stopped the truck at various locations to drop off workers. One of those stops is an area known as Smartie Town. According to Booysen, there are overhanging branches next to the road from a tree.

According to her, Baartman swerved the truck, hitting the branches, and she was hit by a thorn. He, however, dropped her at home, where she washed her eye with water.

She said when she woke up the next morning, she could not see properly with her right eye. She realised that something was wrong and she went to hospital.

Booysen subsequently underwent two operations on her eye, and she had to remain in hospital for about a month.

Baartman testified that he drove onto the pavement but that he stopped before the tree line to drop off passengers. He testified that when he re-entered the road surface, he drove nowhere close to the overhanging branches on the left side of the road. He added that when he dropped Booysen, she never complained about her eye.

Acting Judge F Moosa noted that under the rigours of cross-examination, it became clear that Baartman attempted to mislead the court. He admitted that he actually stopped on the pavement directly under the overhanging thorn branches.

He admitted that the tree branches were low-hanging and posed a danger to persons sitting on the uncovered cargo bed area of the truck.

Baartman also admitted that on a previous occasion the thorns of the overhanging branches scraped the vehicle and that the thorns of the branches are of such a nature that they could tear a canvas.

He conceded that he should have kept this fact in mind when he drove on the pavement underneath the branches on the day of the incident.

Judge Moosa commented that Baartman was aware of the low-hanging branches and that the passengers on the exposed cargo bed could get injured.

He concluded that this resulted in negligent driving and that the RAF is thus liable for the damages. The amount of damages payable to Booysen will be determined at a later stage.

Cape Times