Bianca’s murder trial ends today

Durban court expected to make ruling

WITH the trial of the two men accused of killing Bianca Parsons coming to an end today, legal representatives of the men and the State wrapped up their arguments this week in the Durban High Court.

In his argument, defence advocate Jay Naidoo said Kerwin Christopher Houston had not been in possession of an unlicensed firearm and that Darryl Murreson had shot Parsons in the belief that she was Juade Ernest, a person he had a grudge against.

Parsons was killed in front of her three-year-old daughter while parked at a petrol station in Wentworth last year.

During the trial, Bianca’s husband, Orson, who had left the car to enter the store to buy cooldrinks, said he had heard what sounded like fireworks when the shots went off.

During the trial, when closed circuit video footage of the shooting was played, Orson had walked out of the courtroom as he could not deal with the trauma of seeing his wife being shot.

Naidoo said the guilty plea by Murreson corroborated the version of events that were given by Houston, which was that Murreson had acted on his own when he fired the shots.

“Where the accused has advanced a version which presents as a reasonable hypothesis to trump the State’s case, he is entitled to acquittal… The State has adduced no direct evidence of any premeditated plan having been contrived and agreed to by the two accused and neither is there any direct evidence of Houston in any way participating in or committing any act which links him to the death of the deceased,” Naidoo said. He said Houston had been to the garage to sell drugs and had been travelling with Murreson. Murreson saw Juade Ernest, who he had a grudge against, drive into the garage and set out to confront him. “Houston tried to dissuade him from the confrontation without success,” he said. When Murreson alighted from the vehicle and drew his firearm, Houston realised that his co-accused was determined to shoot and drove away. Naidoo said the State largely depended on the CCTV footage for evidence against Houston. Senior State advocate Kelvin Singh argued that the CCTV footage showed that the argument that Houston had been there to sell drugs and had received a call about the deal was false. Cellphone evidence showed that he had not received a call, Singh said. The fact that Houston had not testified in the trial also counted against him as there was no evidence presented by him at the trial to prove his case, said Singh. He argued that both men had acted together when they committed the crime. Judgement will be carried on the Daily News website today. Visit www. iol.co.za/dailynews