Witness ‘recognised gangsters’

A state witness in the case involving six alleged gangsters accused of a string of offences, including murder and kidnapping, told the Port Elizabeth High Court on Monday that on the night his housemate and friend was murdered, he recognised at least two of the accused as they kicked in the front door of their home.

The witness, who cannot be named as he is under witness protection, told the court he saw Damian “Oom Jan” Kammies, 24 and Warren “Wakka” Steyn, 25, and a third man enter his room after kicking down the front door.

The man’s friend, Mohammed “Mielie” Gamieldien Abdullah, was later kidnapped from the Gideon Street, Schauderville home and murdered – allegedly by Kammies, Steyn and the other unknown man.

According to the witness, he was able to run away during the attack and made his way to Neville “China” Plaatjies’s home, but on the way there he was stopped by members of the police’s gang unit and taken to identify the body of Abdullah who had been dumped near the Malabar cemetery.

“After I identified [Abdullah], I went with the gang unit to look for my girlfriend and [then] I went to where I was staying [with Abdullah] and I saw my house was burnt to the ground,” the man said.

The witness said he then went with the gang unit to the Mount Road police station, where he gave a statement before identifying Kammies and Steyn in an ID photo parade.

Immediately thereafter, he entered the witness protection programme.

The man, who admitted in court that he was a regular mandrax and dagga smoker, said the night before the incident, he and Abdullah had smoked, but said that it had little effect on him as he had been smoking since he was 13.

The man said he had regularly seen Kammies driving around Schauderville in his white Corsa bakkie.

The man alleged that he had been staying with Abdullah for just more than two weeks prior to the attack.

He said he was friends with Plaatjies, but Abdullah did not want him at the house.

“[Plaatjies] would go and steal and then the police would show up at the house.”

Kammies, Steyn, Deilon Makoppa, 32, Christiano “Twakkie” Whitebooi, 20, Kurt Bosman, 30, and Ashton Calvert, 26, face a string of charges, including two counts of murder, two of kidnapping, attempted murder and three charges of arson, among others.

They all pleaded not guilty to a total of 15 charges.