Case to focus on clothing worn during shooting

THE clothing businessman Shaun Blunden was wearing the night he allegedly shot his former brother-in-law will come under scrutiny when he appears in court next month.

Blunden’s former brother-in-law, Deon Williams, told the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court that he went to the Blundens’ family home on June 20 2015 after he received a frantic call from his daughter, Kaylin.

“My daughter, when she called, sounded very stressed, she said they [the Blundens] wanted to throw her out of the house . . . it upset me so I went there as quickly as possible,” Williams said.

Kaylin and Williams’s former wife, Cheryl, who is also Blunden’s sister, had been living in the Walmer Heights home at the time.

After arriving at the house, a heated disagreement between Williams and Blunden resulted in two shots being fired, with one shot hitting Williams in the stomach.

Blunden, 53, was the co-founder and former chief executive of Blunden Coach Tours, from which he resigned in July 2015.

Blunden has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Williams and Kaylin, saying the shots went off as Williams tried to wrestle his pistol away from him.

During cross-examination by Blunden’s legal representative, Paul Roelofse, Williams admitted that he was angry when he entered the house through the back door.

“I said to him [Blunden], ‘what the f*** do you think you are doing?’,” Williams said.

He said it was then that Blunden moved his hand to his left side before a shot went off.

He said he had not seen the gun before the shot went off.

He said he had just seen Blunden move his hand in a motion which appeared as if he would pull his gun from his holster.

“The trigger was intentionally pulled, there is no doubt about it,” Williams said.

The questions about where Williams had seen the gun led to a scrap between Roelofse and Williams.

“I am putting it to you that you are lying,” Roelofse said. He told the court it was impossible for Blunden to have fired a shot with the gun tucked into his pants as there was no bullet hole in any of his clothing worn that night.

After a short war of words where Williams accused Roelofse of putting words in his mouth, the court adjourned for the investigating officer to bring the clothes Blunden was wearing on the night to court.

When the matter started again, the court heard the investigating officer was currently on leave and unavailable.

Roelofse said his line of questioning revolved around the clothing and gun used and he did not feel comfortable continuing with the case without the evidence in court.

The matter was postponed to March 13.