Ekurhuleni Metro police chief Robert McBride was not sober hours after he crashed his car in December 2006, the doctor who treated him on the day told the Pretoria regional court yesterday.

Ekurhuleni Metro police chief Robert McBride was not sober hours after he crashed his car in December 2006, the doctor who treated him on the day told the Pretoria regional court yesterday.

"From the examination he was not sober," Inbanathan Sagathevan told the court.

Sagathevan said he had received a call from his cousin, Stanley Sagathevan, a colleague of McBride's at the time, who "begged" him to treat the former police chief.

Sagathevan said his rooms were closed, but because he had seen McBride as a patient three times before he agreed to meet him between 7pm and 8pm after the accident occurred.

"His demeanour on this examination was different. He was overly friendly and very casual, unlike previous occasion when he was formal," he said.

He said: "He also had bloodshot eyes and he was not walking with a proper balance."

Sagathevan said McBride smelled of alcohol. When prosecutor Christo Roberts asked Sagathevan if he felt McBride was capable of driving, he responded, "No, not at all."

McBride faces charges of fraud, defeating the ends of justice and drunk driving after crashing his state-owned Chevrolet Lumina after a Christmas party in December 2006 on the R511, near Hartbeespoort Dam.

Sagathevan said during the examination he had been given "direct suggestion" by both McBride and his cousin that he take blood from Stanley Sagathevan and send it to the laboratory under the guise that it was from the former police chief. - Sapa