Ntsele earlier provided the Pietermaritzburg High Court with a detailed analysis based on the injuries Luthuli had sustained. Ntsele is amongst experts who assisted the investigation team in the re-opened inquest to analyse Luthuli's original medical and post mortem report.

Luthuli died in 1967 after being reportedly hit by a goods train in in the town of Groutville. This inquest seeks to overturn the findings of the original one in 1967. Testifying in court yesterday Ntsele said injuries sustained by Luthuli can be defined as defence injuries and not those of a person struck by a train.

“It would not be comprehensible to accept that Mr Luthuli  was hit by a train on the chest since the x-ray revealed a single rib fracture,  one has considered the possibility that  Mr Luthuli could've been hit by the train, the difficulty to reconcile with such context is presented by the nature and distribution of injuries , generally person hit by a train would have multiple fractures in different body regions , in addition a person hit by the train would sustain abrasions bruises and or lacerations , these were not recorded on both autopsy findings,” Ntsele said.

--SABC--