‘Marine Drive killers argued before shooting’
THE men who allegedly hijacked and killed Owen Demingo and Sarah-Jane Oliphant in a brutal pointblank slaying on Marine Drive in January last year, had debated for some time if they should kill the woman, it was revealed in a chilling confession made by one of the accused in the high-profile trial.
It is the state’s case that Andrico Williams, 22, from Cleary Estate, Shannon Waven Shane Mopp, 26, Junaid van Vught, 28, and Justin Maurice Najoe, 23, kidnapped Demingo and Oliphant from the Bloemendal Community Centre, forced them into the boot of Demingo’s red Volkswagen Polo, and drove them to Marine Drive where they were shot.
Their bodies were discovered a few hours later.
The four men pleaded not guilty. They gave no plea explanation.
The court yesterday ruled that a confession detailing the murders, made by Mopp, was admissible as evidence.
This is what he said in his confession before Magistrate Innes du Preez: “I only drove the car. It was Pang (Van Vught), Boeta Williams and me. Pang shot the people. He took one of the people out of the boot. I heard a shot. We drove around some more.
“Pang said we must take the girl from the boot and shoot her. We argued. I said we should not kill her. Pang said she saw all of us. He said I must stop the car. He took the girl from the boot.
“He took her behind a bush. I heard another shot. I then dropped off the car and went home.” Mopp handed himself over to the police. His attorney, Robin O’Brien, said his client agreed that the confession mostly explained what had happened except for a few minor details.
Judge Bonisile Sandi is presiding over the highprofile trial with the team of detectives who solved the case in less than 48 hours, dubbed Port Elizabeth’s super-cops, lining up to give evidence.
Charmelle Finnis, who was the last person to see the two alive, told the court that she had waved goodbye to them a few hours earlier after they had all been drinking together at her house in Arcadia.
She told the court she had been “lifelong friends” with Oliphant and the two of them had worked together. “They only left at 3.45am. It was the last time I saw her.”
The trial will continue today.