Four on trial for billionaire’s death
MORE light is set to be shed on the mysterious October 2015 murder of North West billionaire Wandile Bozwana in the trial of his four alleged assassins in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
Bozwana was killed in a drive-by shooting near the Garsfontein off-ramp on the N1 highway.
He had been travelling north, from Johannesburg, with colleague Mpho Baloyi, who was driving. Baloyi survived the attack and is expected to be the State’s key witness in the high-profile trial.
The four accused all pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder.
They are Sipho Patrick Hudla, 34, of Soweto, Matamela Robert Mutapa, 40, of Bramley, Vusi Reginald Mathibela, 30, of Midrand, and Bonginkosi Paul Khumalo, 36, of Johannesburg.
In the indictment, the State said Bozwana was at Sandton City Mall on October 2, 2015, with his business associate Baloyi, when Hudla, Mutapa and Khumalo apparently received word that the pair were at the mall.
They went there with other unknown persons to meet Mathibela.
Mathibela pointed out Bozwana to his co-accused. Bozwana was to be killed on instruction of Mathibela for reasons yet unknown to the State, the indictment read.
It was said that the accused and unknown persons followed Bozwana and Baloyi after they left the mall and went to a McDonald’s restaurant in Grayston Avenue.
The pair were travelling in a Renault Clio driven by Baloyi. The accused are said to have followed them in at least three different vehicles.
Baloyi took the Garsfontein Road off-ramp where she stopped at a red traffic light. The State claimed that while waiting for the light to turn green, Hudla and an unknown person jumped out of a BMW vehicle behind the pair. They were allegedly armed.
It is the State’s case that Hudla and the other gunman opened fire at the stationary car. Both victims suffered serious gunshot wounds. The accused allegedly fled in their vehicles.
Despite her wounds, Baloyi drove from the Garsfontein offramp, down Garsfontein Road where she eventually stopped in front of the Glasfit business premises. The police and medical help were summoned.
The pair were taken to the Unitas Hospital. Bozwana died later that day from bleeding due to multiple gunshot wounds.
The State will claim, during the trial, that the accused acted with a common purpose during the commission of the alleged crime.
On Monday, Baloyi started to present her evidence, with the aid of CCTV footage at various points, including at the mall, at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton and near the restaurant in Grayston Avenue.