Court hears brutal details of fatal xenophobic attack

JOHANNESBURG: Mozambican hawker Emmanuel Sithole was allegedly hit over the head with a monkey wrench, stabbed in his chest with a knife, beaten and jumped on before he succumbed to his injuries.

The brutal details of the last moments of Sithole’s life were revealed in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday by Sibusiso Mnyandu, who witnessed the April attack in Alexandra.

He was the State’s first witness in the trial of Sizwe Mngomezulu, Sifundo Mzimela, Mthinto Bhengu and a 17-year-old who cannot be named.

All four have pleaded not guilty to charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances and murder.

But Mnyandu told the court how he saw three of the accused chasing Sithole down the road before one of them hit him on the back of the head with a monkey wrench, causing him to fall down.

A second person then stabbed the man in the chest. “They were insulting him… A man jumped on the head of the deceased with both feet,” he told the court.

Sithole was then beaten before another of the accused allegedly threatened him with a large kitchen knife. “When this person was getting the bigger knife, a boy grabbed his hand so that he wouldn’t stab (Sithole). At that stage, people were also screaming.”

During proceedings, prosecutor Jacob Tloubatla showed the court 49 photos which were taken by journalists who witnessed the attack.

Mnyandu, who had been standing close to the journalists at the time, said he had been too scared to try and help Sithole.

Vhonani Matshidza, who is representing Mngomezulu and Mzimela, said that Sithole was attacked because he had hit the accused minor with a brick.

“Accused four (Mzimela) will tell this court (that) on the day in question, accused number three was attacked by the deceased… The deceased was coming with a brick to accused number three. (Mzimela) wanted to intervene, to know what’s happening. In the process, the deceased hit accused number three with a brick. That is where the fighting started,” Matshidza said.

But Mnyandu said he had not seen how the fight had started.

At the beginning of proceedings, Tloubatla made an application for Sithole’s relatives, some of whom had travelled from Mozambique, to be allowed to attend the trial. The case is being held in camera to protect the accused minor.

Magistrate Lucas van der Schyff granted the application, saying that only Sithole’s direct relatives and the parents of the other three accused would be allowed to sit in court.

The trial was postponed June 30.

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