An additional charge of culpable homicide has been added in the murder and fraud case of paediatric surgeon Prof Peter Beale by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

Beale, whose co-accused anaesthetist Dr Abdulhay Munshi was shot dead in September 2020, made a brief appearance in the high court on Tuesday. 

The 74-year-old is accused of causing the death of 10-year-old Zayyaan Sayed in October 2019 at Netcare's Park Lane Clinic. The victim died after Beale performed what was meant to be a routine laparoscopic operation for reflux. He is also accused of fraud, relating to the results of a distal oesophageal biopsy, according to the indictment.

The new charge is related to an incident in July 2016 at Morningside Mediclinic, where Beale allegedly unlawfully and negligently caused the death of a 21-month-old girl, Alissa Strydom.

“The mother of the deceased [Marelize Strydom] informed Dr Lynda Blesovsky [who has since passed away] that the deceased was ill with a cold/flu or bronchitis approximately three weeks before July 29 2016.

“She also informed the doctor that the deceased underwent a previous operation on May 31 2016 for a dilation of the oesophagus,” said the papers.

At about 3pm the toddler was taken into the theatre for the procedure, a Nissen laparoscopic fundoplication, to be conducted and it was terminated at about 6.50pm.

“Intra-operatively, an arterial haemorrhage was encountered. The impact of the blood loss during the operation was not documented. No request was made for an urgent haemoglobin level test nor was an intraoperative arterial blood gas test conducted. No efforts were made intra-operatively to exclude haemorrhagic shock.

“The anaesthesia was reversed and the deceased was extubated in theatre. An oral airway was placed and the deceased was breathing spontaneously, whereafter she was transferred to the recovery room. The registered nurse, Ms T Ramjee, noted that the deceased was clinically pale,” reads the charge sheet.

The surgery was supposed to take about an hour-and-a-half but it took more than three hours, says the document.

“An arterial blood gas test was conducted in the recovery room at approximately 8.38pm, which demonstrated a hematocrit (proportion of red blood cells in blood) of 21%.

“The deceased suffered bradycardia and a cardiac arrest. After a prolonged resuscitation the deceased was declared dead at approximately 8.57pm on July 29 2016.”

Beale is due to return to court on January 16 next year.

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