Coligny farmers’ bail decision soon

Steven Tau

Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte, accused of the death of 16-year-old Jonas Mosweu in Coligny in North West, will only find out on Monday if they will be released on bail or not.

They have been seeking bail, claiming that the deceased, whom they apparently caught stealing sunflowers from a field, incurred fatal injuries when he jumped off the moving bakkie they were travelling in.

But Brigadier Clifford Kgorane, who is supervising the investigation and who was cross-examined twice this week, said a witness told him that one of the accused pushed Mosweu off the moving vehicle. He said he would have expected the accused to call the police or an ambulance, adding that they were not permitted to remove the vehicle from the crime scene.

The Coligny Magistrate’s Court heard this week the accused could not have done anything to assist the deceased as they are not medical experts.

Defence attorney Hennie du Plessis said the accused were busy with farming activities on April 20 when they noticed two boys stealing sunflowers from a plantation.

“They arrested one of them and ordered him on the back of the bakkie with the intention of taking him to the police. They decreased speed and the child jumped off the moving bakkie … they immediately turned back and found him unconscious,” according to the statement Du Plessis read to the court on behalf of his clients.

Another state witness, warrant officer Jeremia Modisane, said when he arrived at the scene he found the deceased in a pool of blood and that he had been bleeding from his ears.

Mosweu’s death is believed to have sparked the recent protests in Coligny in which at least four houses were torched.