Principal 'killed in sex row'

2003-05-22 10:27

Johannesburg - Popular Brixton school principal Hiliodoro Pereira was murdered in April 2002 because he owed money for sex to one of his alleged killers, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Wednesday.

Butiki William Maswanganyi, 28, testified that his co-accused, Glenford Mangwe, 26, killed the EP Baumann School principal after the pair had sex.

Pereira was killed in the main bedroom of his home in Triomf, Johannesburg. He died from multiple stab wounds and his body was dumped in the bath.

Maswanganyi and Mangwe, who had known each other since their childhood in Tzaneen, were at Pereira's house to complete tiling around the pool.

Maswanganyi told the court on Wednesday that they were invited inside and given food and drink by Pereira.

He said they were "more or less" drunk at the time of the murder and that a blue movie had been shown.

Maswanganyi, who denies being in the main bedroom at the time of the murder, spent most of the day under cross-examination by Mangwe's counsel.

Saw principal bleeding on bed

Mangwe, who has denied the murder charge, still has to take the stand in his defence.

In his testimony before Judge Thembelihle Masipa, Maswanganyi said that Mangwe allegedly told him he had an arrangement with Pereira to have sex with him.

Maswanganyi claimed Pereira invited Mangwe to the bedroom for sex.

Five minutes later, he heard a scream and when he rushed to the bedroom he claims he saw Mangwe holding a knife.

Pereira was lying on the bed, blood spattered his chest and he was either dead or dying at that point.

Maswanganyi also claimed Mangwe had Pereira's wallet, watch and cellphone in his hands and that he threatened to stab Maswanganyi if he didn't help him.

Asked why he was taking the goods, Maswanganyi said Mangwe told him Pereira had tricked him, that Pereira owed him money for previous sex sessions and that he was "paying himself".

Maswanganyi said that while he had been frightened and wanted to leave, he had helped dump the body in the bath and to load electrical goods into Pereira's car.

While admitting that he stored the stolen goods, Maswaganyi said: "I was entered by an evil spirit. The evil spirit played a role in my part."

Cross-examining Maswanganyi, Sarzi Nyati submitted that if he had been completely innocent of the murder, he would have run away and reported the crime.

Instead, he went touting for buyers for the stolen goods.

The trial continues.

- SAPA