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CELLPHONE SPARKS DEADLY FIGHT

Teens on trial after granddad, 64, attacked with spade, knife

- CHARLENE SOMDUTH

DAYS after picking up a cellphone that was accidental­ly dropped in a taxi, Phoenix grandfathe­r Joshua Pillay, was dead, a Verulam court heard this week.

Pillay, 64, was bludgeoned with a spade and stabbed in the neck, allegedly by a teenage couple who had tracked him down to his home for the phone, which one of them owned.

Ashley Veerasamy and Abigail Pillay, both 18, had travelled in the same taxi one day in November 2016, the Verulam Magistrate’s Court was told.

On Monday, the couple pleaded not guilty to murder and robbery with aggravatin­g circumstan­ces.

They claimed that Joshua had tried to stab them after they confronted him.

Veerasamy said, via his lawyer, he had retaliated by stabbing the elderly man in the neck and that as they continued to fight, hit him twice on the back of the head with the spade.

“Our home was covered in blood,” Joshua’s son, Trevor William, testified about what he saw that fateful day.

“There was blood in the passage, lounge, tiles and walls. He (Joshua) was lying in a pool of blood with open wounds on his neck and eyebrows. He was found by my son.”

Joshua died in hospital six days later.

A laptop, cellphone and R800 in cash had been taken from his home, allegedly by the couple.

Rubbing their faces with their hands and continuous­ly turning to the public gallery, the couple appeared restless and nervous as they sat in the dock at the start of their trial.

Reading out a statement to the court, presided over by magistrate Nokwazi Sosibo, Veerasamy’s attorney B Tembe said that days before the incident, the couple had boarded a taxi in uMhlanga to their homes in Phoenix.

“The deceased had taken the same taxi as the accused, and while jumping off the taxi, (Abigail) Pillay unknowingl­y dropped her cellphone on the seat. The phone was picked up by the deceased. When Pillay arrived home, she realised her phone was not with her,” said the statement.

The court heard that Abigail’s mother contacted Ashley, informing him that the phone was being used by a male person.

According to the statement, the man began chatting to Abigail’s mother and wanted to take her out for lunch.

Ashley then noticed Joshua’s profile picture linked to his girlfriend’s number.

“On the Friday before the incident, the couple went to the deceased’s house to look for him, but his wife informed them that he went to town. They went back to the house on the Sunday and confronted the deceased, who had been sweeping his yard.”

Joshua, according to the statement, told the couple to wait for his wife to come back from church, and he offered them something to eat.

In the statement, Ashley claimed that while he was outside smoking a cigarette, Joshua took Abigail into a bedroom of his house and tried to stab her.

Upon hearing his girlfriend’s screams, he went into the home and found the room’s door was closed.

When he opened it, Abigail was on the bed and Joshua was carrying a knife, he said, adding that the deceased then tried to stab him.

In the commotion, Abigail escaped, the court heard.

Ashley claimed that he pushed the knife aside but that Joshua then took a spade and hit him on his back.

The court heard that Ashley stabbed Joshua in the neck as they continued to fight and took the spade and hit him twice on the back of the head.

Ashley sustained injuries to his hand and wanted to go to the hospital, but did not have money for treatment.

The court heard he took a phone and laptop and sold the items at a nearby supermarke­t.

A neighbour, Hamilton Gopal, also took the witness stand, saying he had seen the couple leave Joshua’s home.

“Veerasamy was wrapping his injured hand in a jacket and (Abigail) Pillay was putting something into her black handbag,” he said.

“They had bloodstain­s on their clothing.”

The trial continues.

 ??  ?? Above: Joshua Pillay Top left: Ashley Veerasamy and Abigail Moodley
Above: Joshua Pillay Top left: Ashley Veerasamy and Abigail Moodley
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