Murder-accused Beale went home after operating on child who suffered complications, court told

JOHANNESBURG - Murder-accused paediatric surgeon Peter Beale’s decision to go home after operating on a 10-year-old boy, who suffered complications during the procedure has come under the spotlight in court on Friday.

Beale is accused of three counts of murder and two counts of fraud.

This is in connection with the deaths of three children he operated on with the State alleging he acted recklessly.

When his trial got underway before the High Court in Joburg on Monday, Beale pleaded not guilty.

Neither the children involved in this case nor the witnesses can be named, but in one instance, Beale allegedly misrepresented to a 10-year-old boy’s parents that he had a condition called intestinal metaplasia and required what turned out to be fatal surgery, and then having left the hospital after the surgery, despite the child suffering what’s known as a “tension pneumothorax” as well as a collapsed lung.

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As a result, the insertion of a chest drain was apparently left to anaesthetist Dr Abdulhay Munshi, who was previously charged with Beale but was then murdered in 2020.

Much of Friday’s proceedings focused on whose responsibility that actually was, with the State’s first witness - also a paediatric surgeon - insisting that the status quo is that the surgeon inserts a chest drain, but Beale’s legal team’s position that the anaesthetist has the required skills. What the court will decide, though, remains to be seen.

In the meantime, this witness has now wrapped up his evidence and the case has been adjourned until next week, when a new witness will take the stand.