‘Mass shooter’ slain: alibis of accused still not verified

THE defence for three accused charged with the murder of a man, suspected to have been linked to a mass shooting, has handed over to the State statements in relation to the trio’s alibis for the day of the alleged killing.

Siphamandla Hadebe,24, was allegedly gunned down in broad daylight in full view of about 18 people in Wyebank just five days after being released on R8 000 bail last year.

Hadebe and his co-accused Njabulo Mchunu,31, and Comfort Ngubo, 22, were granted bail on August 16, charged with possession of a firearm without a licence and ammunition.

The three were said to have been linked to the mass shooting in Savannah Park.

Hadebe was allegedly shot and killed by men who arrived at a house in Wyebank in a White Ford double cab with a police registration plate, suspected to be fake. Another person was injured when the men opened fire.

Siyabonga Shozi, 36, Nkosinathi Gumede, 38, and Nkosingiphile Nzimande,29, who appeared in the Pinetown Regional Court on Friday stand accused of Hadebe’s murder and the attempted murder of Ntandazo Gumede.

The State told the court it had only received the docket that morning and had not had time to go through it.

The trio’s attorney, who prefers not to be named for safety reasons, said at the accuseds’ last court appearance the previous prosecutor had requested documents which the defence had on hand on Friday.

“I foresee that we will ask for further particulars. I ask that the matter be adjourned. During my clients’ bail application, they presented the court with alibis with supporting statements. The previous prosecutor had indicated that these had not been verified.

“Ballistics and DNA are outstanding, I had raised the concern that these were pertinent to the trial. There are a lot of issues to be clarified before the trial.

“Setting the matter for trial without these would be a waste of the State’s resources and would be unfair from a financial viewpoint for my clients.”

The counsel asked for the case to be adjourned for her to put in writing queries that she had.

“I am not ready for a pre-trial conference, it would be futile to do so with so many queries.”

The men’s lawyer handed to the State their alibi statements with contact details of those who had made them.

The matter was adjourned to later in June for the State to investigate what had been brought to its attention by the defence.

Shozi and Gumede are currently out on R20000 bail each while Nzimande who was arrested at least two months after the two other men was granted R10000 bail.

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