Tears in gallery after child tells how family died in fire

A TEARY Kista Chetty walked down the stairs, out of the courtroom and into the grid below as he watched his family comfort a child relative who had just testified in his trial yesterday in the Durban High Court.

The child who had led evidence for the defence, after being cross-examined by the State was comforted in the court gallery by family members as she cried.

Chetty, who has pleaded not guilty to five counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, is on trial charged with the 2021 murders of his wife Elisha Naidoo, 39, his 13-year-old daughter Jadene, his 9-year-old son Jordan, 8-year-old daughter Aarav and his 3-year-old nephew Aldrin.

At the time of the incident, the family lived in a bedroom they rented at a house on Kidstone Place in Phoenix. Chetty’s brother-in-law Deon Naidoo and others lived in the lounge of the same house; there were 12 of them living in the house.

Chetty told the court that he had started the fire while trying to kill himself by pouring petrol into the cap of a container and then on to his T-shirt which he lit with a lighter.

He did this in a bedroom where his family was.

A child relative who cannot be named to protect her identity, testified that on the day after Chetty had been locked out of the house, he was let in and walked into the lounge where she was and walked to the bedroom.

“I followed him, he asked Elisha why Deon was still there, she said it is late where is he going to go, and he said he’d rather kill himself. He picked up the canister (with petrol) and was flicking the lighter.

“I turned to look at Elisha and then turned to him and I saw his shirt was wet, then there was fire… I don’t know what made his shirt wet… There was fire but there was a small space where it wasn’t burning… I ran outside, I didn’t see him when I was outside. There was fire by the doorway when I ran out of the room.”

She said she ran out of the room with a toddler that she had grabbed.

When Senior State prosecutor Krishen Shah cross-examined the child, he read out to her a statement that she made to the police three weeks ago about the incident.

In it, she said Chetty had been angry and drunk when he gained entry to the house demanding his clothes.

In the statement, the child said she was in the lounge and could hear Chetty arguing with his wife in the bedroom.

According to the statement she saw him handling a container with a quarter of petrol in and that he had a lighter in the other hand and was saying he wanted to kill himself.

“He kept clicking the lighter to the container, that time Elisha and the kids were inside the room. I decided to run out with the toddler. After about five minutes he was standing by the door and out of the room saying it was on fire and woke up Deon,” read Shah from the statement.

He questioned the child about the difference between what she had told the court and her statement, but the child could offer no explanation.

“What is apparent from this is that you were not in the room when the fire started… When Chetty testified he said the container was on the left of him and you said it was in front of him…,” said Shah.

The defence rested its case. Tomorrow the State and defence will address the court on the merits of the case.