Harlow surgeon shot in the head during South Africa riot was on family holiday, inquest hears

An award-winning British surgeon was shot in the head during violent protests in South Africa while on holiday with his family, an inquest was told.

Kar Hao Teoh, 40, who worked at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, was a tourist in Cape Town when he was shot.

An inquest, which was opened and adjourned in Chelmsford on Thursday, heard he died on 4 August of a gunshot to the head.

Michelle Brown, area coroner for Essex, said: “On 4 August, this 40-year-old was on holiday in South Africa with his family when an unknown person approached the car and discharged a firearm, hitting him in the head.”

A post-mortem examination carried out in South Africa recorded that Mr Teoh, of Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, died of a gunshot to the head, the coroner said.

It is believed he had taken a wrong turn from a nearby airport when a group approached the vehicle he was in and shot him.

Unrest on the outskirts of South Africa’s second-largest city began after minibus taxi drivers announced a week-long strike.

Ms Brown said Mr Teoh’s body had been repatriated to Essex.

“The case will be adjourned off and will be heard at some point, depending on the time limits for the evidence to arrive from South Africa,” she said, adding that the date for a full inquest hearing is to be confirmed.

Mr Teoh worked as a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

In a statement, the hospital said he was a “well-respected member of the team, valued colleague and friend to many across the hospital as well as in regional, national and international trauma and orthopaedic networks”.

In 2021, Mr Teoh won an international prize for his pioneering research into the treatment of ankle fractures.

South African police have opened a murder case into the shooting, which happened in the Nyanga township near Cape Town International Airport.

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