Not guilty. This is how taxi driver, Jacob Humphreys, pled on several charges of murder and attempted murder in the Cape High Court on Monday.
Humphreys was the driver of the taxi involved in the fatal taxi/train accident at the Buttskop level crossing in Blackheath on 25 August last year.
Ten children died and four were seriously injured in the accident after Humphreys allegedly ignored warning signs and tried to cross the level crossing in front of the oncoming train.
Humphreys stood in the courtroom that was packed with the accident victims’ families, on Monday wearing a blue tie and striped shirt.
He has been charged with 10 counts of murder with alternative charges of culpable homicide, and four counts of attempted murder, alternatively assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Humphreys was asked by Judge Robert Henney how he would plead. He pled not guilty on all 14 charges against him. He however admitted that he was behind the steering wheel of the vehicle that collided with a train on 25 August.
The state was to call its first witnesses in court when the trial continued yesterday, among them two survivors of the accident that received widespread media attention.