Peter Beale trial: Surgeon tells court all he wanted to do was help 10-year-old who died after op
Peter Beale told the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg that he only wanted to help cure the 10-year-old boy who died following a procedure he performed on him.
Beale told the court the boy's operation took longer than expected because he was overweight.
The paediatric surgeon is on trial in the Gauteng High Court for the alleged murders of three children he operated on.
Beale has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and is currently on trial in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
During his testimony as the first defence witness, Beale took to the stand and told the court that when he performed the surgery on the boy, he wanted to help him and stop his suffering.
"Poor [name withheld] life was miserable. He was always vomiting and not responding to medication. Surgery was the only solution in my view for his condition," Beale told the court.
He also said during the procedure, the anaesthetist, Dr Abdulhay Munshi, asked him to pause the procedure, as he said oxygen saturation had decreased. The boy's pulse had gone up.
According to Beale, the pause was not more than 10 minutes.
Munshi was Beale's co-accused in the case, anc he was gunned down in a suspected hit in 2020.
Beale said during the operation, he was meticulous and paid attention to detail.
His lawyer, advocate lan Green SC, asked whether his advice to the 10-year-old's parents would have been different if he had read the biopsy report correctly.
In his plea explanation, Beale said he misread the biopsy report that the boy had intestinal metaplasia, which was used as a reason to perform the procedure.
He, however, told the court that his decision for the procedure was not primarily based on the biopsy report and said there were other indications that the surgery was needed.
He said even if he had read the biopsy report correctly, he would have still gone ahead with the procedure.
The trial will continue on Friday.
Fraud and murder accused Peter Beale denies performing surgeries to recoup lost money
Professor Peter Beale has dismissed the State's claims that he performed surgeries on children to recoup money he had lost in what was described as the country's biggest Ponzi scheme.
He told the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that the loss had little effect on his finances.
Beale is facing three counts of murder stemming from the deaths of children who died, allegedly due to complications from surgeries he performed.
Beale's advocate, lan Green, SC, told him the State suggested that he had performed surgeries on the children for financial gain.
Beale dismissed this as untrue.
He also said that although he was angry and disappointed that he had lost money, the loss didn't shake his finances, as suggested by the State.