Prosecutor ready to bet ‘last cent’ on convicting Reeston 7

THE state is confident it will secure the conviction of seven Reeston men for the murder and kidnap of two youths and will ask for life sentences, an East London bail magistrate was told yesterday.

State prosecutor Asanda Nolusu, in her closing argument before magistrate Joel Cesar yesterday, called the defence team’s argument that the state’s case was “very weak” a myth.

Nolusu said she would bet her last cent that when the trial resumed later this year there would be enough evidence to secure their conviction.

“We have witnesses who place them at the scene. We are still tying up some loose ends, but we will be more than ready for trial,” Nolusu told Cesar.

Lungisa Kula, Luvo Mpongwana, Sakhumzi Jiya, Khayalethu Mngcongco, Thanduxolo Mbebe, Thozamile Tafane and Thobela Robeni, all in their 30s or 40s, have been applying for bail application since April 24.

They were arrested on April 22 for the kidnapping and murder of Lihle Sokutu, 18, and his friend Londoloza Ntlombeni, 20, whom the seven had allegedly accused of breaking into a house in the area.

The seven are charged with two counts of murder, two of kidnapping and one of defeating the ends of justice by discarding the two bodies over a 400m cliff near Butterworth.

Mpongwana’s attorney Odwa Manitshana said the weakness of the state’s case was that it rested on evidence the defence would torpedo.

Manitshana was cross-examining investigating officer Constable Lundi Nqwelo, who yesterday said the group had confessed to the crime and that they led police to where they had dumped the two bodies.

“My client will deny ever confessing to the crimes. In fact, if you depend on such evidence, which was oral and not recorded, then you will agree with me when I say the state has no case. The evidence you claim to have will be shot down during trial,” Manitshana said.

But Nqwelo insisted he had enough evidence for conviction. He told Cesar he wanted the seven men tried in the high court and that he was praying for “nothing less than a life sentence”.

Legal Aid attorney Mthimkhulu Mphahlwa represents the other six.

The seven will hear tomorrow if they have been granted bail or not. —