Murder accused in court
EX-KZN rugby man’s brother not angry with suspect
AS THE man accused of murdering former KwaZulu-Natal rugby player, Graham Downes, appears in a US court today on a charge of murder, the family of the ex-Durban man said they bore no anger towards him.
“Anger does not help and to be angry will not help anyone,” Downes’s brother, Simon, said from San Diego yesterday.
“From my perspective anger does not help. Some of the family are very angry and they want to see something being done but it is counter-productive to be. The other issue is that some of our family know this man and have worked with him,” he said.
Downes, 56, a well-known architect on the USWest Coast, died after an apparent brawl with an employee, Higinio Salgado, at his home in San Diego on Sunday.
He succumbed to severe head injuries sustained during the brawl after doctors decided there was nothing more they could do for him.
Salgado, 31, appeared in the San Diego Superior Court for an arraignment this week on a charge of attempted murder. He pleaded not guilty.
Because Downes had been kept on life support while his organs were being harvested, prosecutors had until now not been able to charge Salgado with murder.
Salgado was expected to be charged with murder today at a status conference. A readiness conference has been set for May 29 and a preliminary hearing for June 11.
According to the Union Tribune San Diego’s website, San Diego Superior Court Judge David Szumowski set Salgado’s bail at $3 million (R27.2m) and scheduled a status conference for today.
Authorities set the bail high as they fear that Salgado may flee to Mexico where he has ties.
The website reported that outside the courtroom, the prosecutor, deputy district at- torney Amy Maund, called what happened to Downes “senseless”, but declined to talk about a possible motive.
Police were called to Downes’s home at about 1.10am last Friday after neighbours heard screaming.
When police arrived, Salgado and Downes were lying on the ground. Downes sustained multiple injuries to the head.
Simon, who flew to San Diego on Saturday to be with him during his last hours, said he had not gone to the court appearance earlier this week and was not planning to go today.
“The only one we would really be interested in is the judgment,” he said.
Simon said amemorial service had been planned for Satur- day at the Ombac rugby club in memory of his brother.
“They are expecting more than 1 000 people to come. On Thursday night about 150 men, who played touch rugby with Graham, had a dinner and a memorial in his honour where everybody enjoyed a Natal curry,” he said.
Simon said that half of his brother’s ashes would be scattered at his home in San Diego and the Ombac rugby club and the rest would be brought to South Africa.
“Essentially he had two lives – one in South Africa and the other in San Diego,” he said.
“There are a lot of people who loved Graham here and we want to honour that.”