|
Human trafficker 'executed'
15/02/2005 20:17 - (SA)
Johannesburg - A Mozambican immigrant who was shot dead execution-style with her daughter in 2003 was involved in human trafficking, Johannesburg High Court heard on Tuesday.
Waheed Shaik, 25, and Majid Saleem, 26, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Fatima Momade and her 13-year-old daughter, Nazia, - and to the attempted murder of Momade's other daughter, aged eight.
Amanulla Narsullam, 23, has pleaded not guilty to charges related to covering up the murders.
Ali Tarssawar, a former accused turned-State witness, said in evidence that Momade used to take money to send people to Europe.
Another witness, Liduvicca Warriach, said she had shared a house with Momade as well as the two alleged murderers and Tarssawar.
She said people had arrived at night, received documents and been sent out of the country.
Tarssawar, who was also charged at first with covering up the murder, was warned at the beginning of his testimony that it would be decided at the end of the trial whether he had answered all questions truthfully and satisfactorily.
Found alive with the bodies
If so, he would be entitled to indemnity from prosecution.
Warriach also told the court police had found the eight-year-old alive beside the bodies of her mother and sister on the Potchefstroom Highway, near Lenasia.
Warriach had heard about the killing and called the police.
Momade had been estranged from her Pakistani husband. Shaik and Saleem are also Pakistani.
Warriach told the court that when she woke on March 4 2003, she noticed the mother and her daughters were missing.
She said Ali Tarssawari called her aside.
She said he told her: "They have been killed by Majid and Waheed" and that he would also tell her the reason later as he was afraid "they would observe that he was busy telling me".
'Destroyed clothes and property'
Warriach said she discussed the matter with her mother and sister and her sister had helped her contact the police.
Charges against Narsullam relate to his allegedly having destroyed clothes and property to help cover up the murder.
State prosecutor Jacqueline Fick may still call the eight-year-old to testify. The court heard that she was in therapy.
According to court documents, the mother was taken from her home, shot and dumped beside the highway. The children were fetched later and shot at the same spot.
The trial continues.
|
News
