Boeremag witness 'lying'
2003-11-12 16:40
Pretoria - A State witness in the Boeremag treason trial was accused by defence counsel on Wednesday of telling lies in the Pretoria High Court.
Harry Prinsloo also accused witness Johannes Coenraad Smit of maliciousness.
Prinsloo told the court that his client, Mike du Toit, denied taking part in a meeting at a brothel in the north of Pretoria about which Smit had testified.
Smit told the court last week that Du Toit called the meeting at a place called Pleasers to discuss details of a planned rightwing coup d'etat.
Pleasers, he testified, was a brothel attached to the strip club Teazers, which he, Du Toit and others had visited before to discuss the coup.
On the evening of November 9, 2001, he, Du Toit and others had a few drinks at Pleasers after which Du Toit was "escorted by one of the escorts", Smit had told the court.
But, Prinsloo on Wednesday produced a record of phone calls made to and from Smit's cellphone on the night in question, which he said brought the testimony into question.
The record indicated that Smit was in Clubview, south of Pretoria, between about 20:20 and 21:30. Smit earlier said he was at Pleasers with Du Toit from about 19:30 for two or three hours.
Asked to explain the apparent discrepancy, Smit said he wasn't sure exactly what time they visited the brothel.
He was unable to explain why the brothel was never named in his witness statement - which refers only vaguely to a meeting that evening.
"I believe that your revelation here was made with malicious intent," Prinsloo told Smit. "My client denies attended a meeting like the one you described."
Handwriting
Smit was next asked by Prinsloo to write out the words "Murray Hill", "Speskop" and the numbers "50" and "100" 20 times each.
Prinsloo used this to argue that the handwriting on a document dubbed Document 12 was not his client's, but that of Smit. Smit claimed Du Toit gave him the document, a blueprint for the coup, and made notes on it in his presence.
Prinsloo pointed out that when writing down "Murray Hill" in court, Smit had left out the letter "a", just like in the notes written on Document 12.
He argued that the handwriting on the document was identical to Smit's.
Prinsloo told the court that his client would deny giving Smit such a document or writing on it.
Du Toit and 21 others are standing trial on charges of plotting a rightwing coup d'etat as members of the rightwing Boeremag grouping. They face 42 charges ranging from murder and attempted murder to treason, terrorism, sabotage, and arms and explosives violations.
Smit, a former Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging member turned police informer, was the first State witness to testify in the trial.
He told the court how the Boeremag planned to "chase" all blacks and Indians out of the country, blow up power stations, take over defence force bases and eliminate "enemies" of the Boers.
Smit declined on Wednesday to reveal how much he was paid for the information he gathered about the Boeremag.
The trial continues.
- SAPA