Brave teen tells of dad's death
2010-09-01 20:34
Pretoria - An Atteridgeville man accused of murdering a Pretoria father during a house robbery, on Wednesday admitted to the to break-in, but denied killing anyone.
Motsiri Ernest Masipa, 34, told the North Gauteng High Court he and three companions went to the house of Jan Engelbrecht in Booysens to break in and steal electronic goods in September 2008.
He insisted he was unarmed, never entered the house and merely took an air gun from one of his friends who passed it to him through a window.
He said he had reached inside when taking the gun, which was why the fingerprints of his left hand were found on the inside of the window frame. He said he knew one of the others was armed with a screwdriver, but he never knew any of them had a firearm.
According to Masipa, he was already running from the scene when he heard a shot.
Masipa has denied guilt to several charges, including Engelbrecht's murder and attempting to murder his victim's two stepsons, Evan and Marcel van der Merwe. Engelbrecht, 45, who had an electrical business, died at the scene after being shot in the chest.
Teen kicked robber
His teenage daughter testified her mother's screams had woken her in the early hours of the morning. A man opened her door, turned on the light, pointed a firearm at her and demanded her cellphone. She kicked him, he hit her over the head with a gun and she kicked him again.
Another man entered the room and grabbed her jewellery from the bedside table. Both men left her room when someone screamed outside.
On going to her father's room, she found a man standing over her father and pointing a gun at him. Her father gestured for her to leave, but she returned to his room when the attacker left after a shot was fired outside.
"We went outside. Just when we got to the door, my father was shot. He looked at me and I grabbed his chest and helped him to lie down on the floor," the daughter testified.
"I kept my hand over the wound on his chest and felt for a pulse. I tried to phone an ambulance, but there was no answer. I ran back to get a towel to put over my father."
The police and a security company arrived about 10 minutes later.
"There was an ambulance as well, but my father died at the scene."
Evan van der Merwe said he had seen his brother wrestling with a man outside after hearing his mother screaming.
The trial continues.
- SAPA