Murder trial 22 years later

2008-05-28 15:33

Walter Ka Nkosi

Nelspruit - A man is on trial on charges of leading a mob who bludgeoned a 71-year-old man to death in front of his family 22 years ago after accusing him of witchcraft.

Samson Segodi, 48, of Brooklyn Trust in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, appeared in the Nelspruit circuit of the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday but the case had to be postponed to Thursday because the investigating officer forgot to bring the case docket to court.

Segodi is implicated in the murder of Lenasi Abiot Mohlabina, 71, also of Brooklyn Trust.

Mohlabina was dragged from his house and bludgeoned with knobkerries, sticks, stones and bricks until he died on the night on May 8 1986. According to the post-mortem, his skull was broken in the attack.

His wife, daughters and grandchildren begged the mob to leave him alone, but to no avail.

Segodi is currently out on R3 000 bail and has not been asked to plead to murder yet.

He was re-arrested in September last year when he returned to his village for the first time since the incident.

He told the court that after his initial arrest in 1986, the investigating officer at the time had come to his house and told him the case had been dropped.

The court could not verify this as the investigating officer has since died.

Segodi said he then left to find work in Gauteng and didn't return until last year.

Community members alerted the police when he returned.

People who remembered the case arrived at the court in two buses and private vehicles to witness the trial on Tuesday.

Segodi's wife and relatives were at court to support him.

About 20 state witnesses have been lined up to testify against him.

Only Segodi has been arrested for the murder as police have never been to trace the other suspects.

The judge, Justice Ephraim Makgoba, said the case had caused enough trauma for the family of the deceased and his community and that the trial should not be delayed any further.

- African Eye