Two deny killing shebeen owners

2008-06-09 20:33

Grahamstown - Two men accused of breaking into the house of an elderly couple and hacking them to death and stealing a case of beer denied guilt in the High Court on Monday.

Thamsanqa Koliti, 32, and André Windvogel, 23, of Extension 9, Grahamstown, are accused of the murder of Siswe Zono, 57, and his common-law wife, Nosipho Nelo, 50, on June 9 last year at their shebeen.

They have been charged with two counts of murder, and housebreaking with the intention to rob, and robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Koliti admitted in his plea to being present outside the murdered couple's home that evening, and fingered Windvogel as the one who broke into the house.

Koliti said he heard a woman screaming and had gone into the house and seen bodies.

However, Windvogel denied he was present and raised an alibi defence.

Chief forensic medical officer Dr Stuart Dwyer said the couple died from multiple blows to the head with a sharp object.

When State advocate Buks Coetzee showed Dwyer a home-made panga, and a small axe, which were displayed on the evidence table, Dwyer agreed that one or the other could be the murder weapon.

Had portable TV and speakers

State witness Virginia Israel told the court she was Koliti's girlfriend and he lived with her and her young son.

"On that evening Windvogel came to the house and asked my boyfriend to go with him to get some beer. He (Windvogel) took a knife from my drawer and they both left," said Israel.

"Later, my boyfriend arrived with five quarts of beer and we drank four of them, and he then left again. When he returned, Windvogel was carrying a portable colour TV and three speakers.

"I asked him where he had got these items and he told me that they had come from the house where alcohol was sold, and where people had been murdered."

She said she asked Windvogel about her knife, and he told me he "had stabbed with it until it broke".

The trial continues.

- SAPA