Murder-accused paediatric surgeon Peter Beale’s decision to go home after operating on a 10-year-old boy – who suffered complications during the procedure – was discussed in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) on Friday, says an EWN report.

Beale is charged with three counts of murder and two counts of fraud in connection with the deaths of three children he operated on.

A witness said Beale left the hospital after surgery on the 10-year old, despite the child suffering what’s known as a tension pneumothorax in addition to a collapsed lung.

As a result, the insertion of a chest drain was said to have been left to anaesthetist Abdulhay Munshi, who was previously charged with Beale but was then murdered in 2020.

Much of Friday’s proceedings focused on whose responsibility the insertion of a chest drain was, with the state’s first witness insisting that the surgeon is the person who inserts a chest drain.

Beale’s legal team’s position is that the anaesthetist had the required skills.

Beale also allegedly misrepresented to the 10-year-old boy’s parents that he had a condition called intestinal metaplasia and required what turned out to be the fatal surgery.

Full EWN report