Accused ‘wanted to kill witness’

Two North West farm workers accused of killing a teenage boy in Coligny intended to kill the man who saw them, the North West High Court heard yesterday.

“They wanted to kill him, they took him to a remote area,” Brigadier Clifford Kgorane told the court.

He was testifying in the murder trial of Pieter Doorewaard, 26, and Phillip Schutte, 34, who are accused of killing Matlhomola Mosweu, 16, of Scotland informal settlement near Coligny.

Kgorane told the court that he changed an inquest docket to murder after he had read the witness’s statement. The witness also took him to the crime scene, confirming his belief that the two farm workers should be investigated for murder.

“He took me and pointed out areas and a dam where they wanted to kill.”

During an inspection of the crime scene on Monday, Bonakele Pakisi, who is in a witness protection programme, said the pair took him to a dam at Putfontein where they intended to kill him, but abandoned the notion when they realised they could be seen by other people.

They took him back to the road, made him run in front of a van and fired shots at him, Pakisi said.

He said Mosweu was lying on the load base of the van the entire time.

The inspection in loco established that the accused drove a distance of 47.6km with Pakisi, while Mosweu was lying in the van.

The state alleges Doorewaard and Schutte assaulted Mosweu and then threw him out of a moving van on April 20, 2017 at Rietvlei farm near Coligny after accusing him of stealing sunflowers from their employer Pieter Karsten’s sunflower plantation.

The state alleges the pair kidnapped the witness and drove him around the farm, assaulted and threatened to kill him if he reported the incident. They also stole his phone and pointed a gun at him.

The accused have pleaded not guilty to seven charges. – ANA