State calls fourth witness in Peter Beale trial

JOHANNESBURG - The State has called another doctor as its fourth witness in paediatric surgeon Peter Beale’s fraud and murder trial.

The charges against Beale stem from the deaths of three children he operated on, with the State alleging he performed “unnecessary” surgeries and acted recklessly.

His trial got underway late last month.

The State’s third witness - the mother of a 10-year-old boy who died after Beale operated on him has now wrapped up her evidence.

The court has ordered that none of the witnesses in the case or the children involved or their families can be identified. But the current witness is a paediatrician who treated a three-year-old boy whom Beale performed surgery on after he suffered complications following the surgery.

The child ultimately died, too, and Beale is accused of “unlawfully and with the intention to defraud '' misrepresenting to his parents that a biopsy had confirmed he had Hirschsprung’s Disease and required surgery when this wasn’t the case.

He’s also accused of failing to provide the necessary care when the child went into distress after surgery.

In her evidence so far, the fourth witness has spoken about how after the child’s condition began deteriorating, he was intubated by Beale.

According to this witness, the tube was “too low down” though and wound up causing internal trauma.