FORMER Ekurhuleni Metro Police chief Robert McBride blamed his diabetes medication for the crash he caused after an office party in Pretoria in 2006.
After three years in his drunken driving trial, McBride testified for the first time in the Pretoria magistrate's court yesterday.
McBride said he saw his doctor, Inbanathan Sagathevan, cousin of McBride's former colleague and confidante, Stanley Sagathevan, "two days before the motor accident".
"On that occasion, he increased the dosage of Amaryl from two milligrams to three. Later that day I blacked out at a stop sign on the way to a meeting. At that stage, I ascribed it to exhaustion because we had been working non-stop."
McBride, who is charged with drunken driving, fraud and defeating the ends of justice, said he experienced "nausea, sweatiness, shaking ... absent-mindedness", and was "forgetful of certain words".
McBride said he couldn't remember anything on the day that he rolled his council-owned Chevrolet Lumina on the R511. He said he felt tired after playing soccer and asked someone to fetch him food.
"The next thing I remember is being in a dark car. It was dark all around me. I was in a lying down position in the passenger seat. Stanley (Sagathevan) was driving. I asked him where I was and what we were doing," said McBride.
Asked by prosecutor Christo Roberts whether he had consumed any alcohol at the party, he replied: "No your worship, I did not consume any alcohol."
McBride said after the accident he visited several doctors. One of them sent him home with a cursory examination. He was later examined by Dr Joseph Moratioa who "did a finger prick test" to test his blood sugar levels. "He drew blood and tested my sugar levels. It was established that my blood sugar level was dangerously low," McBride said.
Moratioa, who died after suffering a stroke in August, was later charged with fraud for allegedly giving McBride a fraudulent doctor's certificate, saying he wasn't drunk.
McBride denied that he got a false doctor's certificate. "I approached no doctor at any stage in my life to issue me with any false medical certificate," he said.
Eye witness Francois de Ridder, who was the first to stop at the scene earlier testified that he got a "strong smell of alcohol" when speaking to McBride. "He spoke like someone who was under the influence and he had bloodshot eyes," he said.
De Ridder told the court he saw McBride, who was alone in the car, move himself to the passenger seat.
'I didn't consume alcohol'
FORMER Ekurhuleni Metro Police chief Robert McBride blamed his diabetes medication for the crash he caused after an office party in Pretoria in 2006.
After three years in his drunken driving trial, McBride testified for the first time in the Pretoria magistrate's court yesterday.
McBride said he saw his doctor, Inbanathan Sagathevan, cousin of McBride's former colleague and confidante, Stanley Sagathevan, "two days before the motor accident".
"On that occasion, he increased the dosage of Amaryl from two milligrams to three. Later that day I blacked out at a stop sign on the way to a meeting. At that stage, I ascribed it to exhaustion because we had been working non-stop."
McBride, who is charged with drunken driving, fraud and defeating the ends of justice, said he experienced "nausea, sweatiness, shaking ... absent-mindedness", and was "forgetful of certain words".
McBride said he couldn't remember anything on the day that he rolled his council-owned Chevrolet Lumina on the R511. He said he felt tired after playing soccer and asked someone to fetch him food.
"The next thing I remember is being in a dark car. It was dark all around me. I was in a lying down position in the passenger seat. Stanley (Sagathevan) was driving. I asked him where I was and what we were doing," said McBride.
Asked by prosecutor Christo Roberts whether he had consumed any alcohol at the party, he replied: "No your worship, I did not consume any alcohol."
McBride said after the accident he visited several doctors. One of them sent him home with a cursory examination. He was later examined by Dr Joseph Moratioa who "did a finger prick test" to test his blood sugar levels. "He drew blood and tested my sugar levels. It was established that my blood sugar level was dangerously low," McBride said.
Moratioa, who died after suffering a stroke in August, was later charged with fraud for allegedly giving McBride a fraudulent doctor's certificate, saying he wasn't drunk.
McBride denied that he got a false doctor's certificate. "I approached no doctor at any stage in my life to issue me with any false medical certificate," he said.
Eye witness Francois de Ridder, who was the first to stop at the scene earlier testified that he got a "strong smell of alcohol" when speaking to McBride. "He spoke like someone who was under the influence and he had bloodshot eyes," he said.
De Ridder told the court he saw McBride, who was alone in the car, move himself to the passenger seat.
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