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FILE | Crowd gathers as forensic personnel investigate after the deaths of patrons found inside the Enyobeni Tavern, in Scenery Park, outside East London in the Eastern Cape.
The legal representative of the families in the Enyobeni inquest has requested the KuGompo City Regional Court seating in Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape, to refer the death of the 21 young people who died at Enyobeni tavern for criminal prosecution, to correct the wrong done by tavern owners Siyakhagela and Vuyokazi Ndevu as well as former bouncer Thembisa Diko.
Attorney Vuyisile Magqabi was submitting his closing remarks in the inquest investigating who should be liable for the death of the youngsters who died at the KuGompo tavern in June 2022.
He says the tavern owners failed to ensure the safety of the young patrons while at their establishment.
He further argued that the assertions made by Ndevu during the course of the trial that the parents were responsible for their children’s safety was inhumane, as he as the owner of the establishment invited the young patrons by means of an event.
“If the owners and the operators of the tavern did not lock the premises despite patrons begging desperately to be released from the premises in light of the pandemonium which occurred and the suffocation they were suffering from with minimal to no ventilation and for lack of intervention in respect of first aid and any without any other emergency,” explains Magqabi.
Magqabi further argued that authorities including the Buffalo City municipality, the police and the Eastern Cape liquor board also failed in their duties to ensure compliance from Enyobeni tavern owners.
