Soweto teen shooting trial postponed

2012-08-02 13:35

Thato Mokoka's mother and grandmother (File, Sapa)

Johannesburg - The murder trial of student Constable Sipho Mbatha was postponed by the South Gauteng High Court on Thursday.

Judge Kathleen Satchwell postponed the case to August 6 because Mbatha's lawyer advocate Kenneth Manyage was ill.

Constable Clifford Mathebula was to have been cross-examined.

He was one of the policemen who was with Mbatha when Thato Mokoka was shot dead outside his grandmother's house in Bramfischerville, Soweto, on February 14.

Mokoka, 16, had been accused of being part of a gang called the BWA (Boys with Advices) and of owning an illegal firearm.

On Wednesday, Mathebula testified that he told his colleagues there was no gun in Mokoka's shack and suggested that they leave.

Shortly thereafter, an R-5 rifle was fired and Mokoka was killed.

He identified Mbatha as the officer who had been holding the gun over Mokoka when it went off.

Mbatha has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge brought against him.

He has claimed that the gun went off accidentally while he was trying to search the teenager.

Mokoka's aunt Mpumi Mokoka and a 15-year-old girl who was with Mokoka on the day of the shooting have already testified.

- SAPA