Trial of double-murder accused expected to start tomorrow

After numerous delays, the trial of three men facing double murder charges is expected to start in the high court in Gqeberha tomorrow, after the state asked for yet another postponement.

Lwando Elvis Lengisi, 31, Simphiwe Tame, 24, and Madoda Lose, 33, face two counts of murder, one of robbery with aggravating circumstances and one count each of the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

They are expected to plead tomorrow. It is alleged the men shot Gert Gouws and Charlie van Zyl, both 51, during a botched robbery on June 7 2019.

According to the state, employees of JD Chain Suppliers, who were being escorted by Gouws, were delivering a bed to a house in Ngoma Street, Zwide, when they were attacked by the three men.

Yesterday, state advocate Garth Baartman told the court the state had been waiting for DNA results to be made available before the trial could continue. Baartman told judge Irma Schoeman the head of the forensics lab in Cape Town would be subpoenaed to appear in the court tomorrow to testify about the delay in the test results and what these had revealed.

Court papers reveal that a witness allegedly saw Lose with his right hand inside the open passenger window of Gouws’s Daihatsu Charade, when he heard a gunshot go off.

The witness is not being named for safety reasons.

After the shot was fired, Van Zyl ran to the driver’s side of the Charade, and another shot was fired, hitting him in the abdomen.

Van Zyl died later in hospital.

Yesterday, defence advocate for Tame, Eric Skepe, told the court he had been instructed by his client to bring an application for bail.

Lengisi was not present in court as he had been sentenced in a different matter and had to be brought from Qonce (formerly King William’s Town).

Lose is out on bail.