Heard elderly couple screaming

2008-06-10 21:48

Grahamstown - A 32-year-old man told the High Court on Tuesday that he was afraid to enter the house of an elderly couple after he had heard screams because the people still might be alive and could identify him.

Testifying in his own defence before Judge Clive Plasket was Thamsanqa Koliti, of Extension 9, Grahamstown.

He and André Windvogel, 23, have pleaded not guilty to the murder and robbery of Siswe Zono, 57, and his common-law wife Nosipho Nelo, 50, on June 9 last year.

The State alleges the elderly couple ran a shebeen close to where Koliti and Windvogel stayed, and were robbed of beer, a portable colour television, a DVD and speakers.

Multiple blows

Medical evidence already led has indicated that the elderly pair had been hacked to death, and had died as a result of multiple sharp-blow traumas to their heads.

On the evidence table in the well of the court, are the alleged murder weapons - a two-foot-long homemade panga and a small hand axe.

Koliti told the court that on the afternoon of the day of the murders, he and his girlfriend got very drunk on five litres of sorghum beer.

"I was quarrelling with Virginia, my girlfriend as she was very drunk, too.

"In the evening, André came round and there was a fight. He stabbed me in the neck and the right index finger.

"Later on, he apologised and said we must go and get some beer. He said we should rob the shebeen, and I was shocked because I had never committed a crime before."

Koliti said he went to the shebeen with his co-accused because he was scared of him and the knife he carried.

He told the court Windvogel had knocked on the door and then listened.

Was scared to enter

"Then he (André) kicked the door down and went in. I waited outside. I heard a woman's voice screaming 'What is going on here now?' It was silent after that.

"I was afraid to enter the house because they might still be alive and would be able to identify me."

Koliti said he did go into the house and saw a body lying on the floor.

He said he went to the fridge and took eight quarts of beer, placed them in a black garbage bag and then left.

- SAPA