One Bozwana trial-within-trial down but still another to go
THE high court in Pretoria yesterday completed one of the two trials-withina-trial that has been prolonging the murder case of North West billionaire Wandile Bozwana.
The murder was allegedly orchestrated by the so-called Mamelodi Number 1 Tsotsi Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela and his accomplices.
Bozwana was shot dead on the N1 Garsfontein off-ramp in October 2015, but the case has experienced numerous twists.
But yesterday, when Mathibela and his co-accused Sipho Hudla, 34, Matamela Mutapa, 40, and Bongani Khumalo, 36, appeared in court, there was progress.
The suspects heard how the court had finished hearing submissions on the admissibility of pointing-outs and confessions.
These included CCTV footage that apparently showed the accused and Mathibela commit the alleged crime.
However, Mathibela’s attorney, Solomon Mkhabela, disputed the footage.
Where it was said that Mathibela could be seen on the tapes pointing at some people, it wasn’t the case, he argued.
The court postponed the matter to January 13 and 24. During this period, it would complete the other trial-within-a-trial to consider if the confessions said to have been made by Mathibela’s co-accused would be used in the main trial.
The accused challenged the confessions they were said to have made and now want the court to rule them out of the main trial.
Mkhabela said Mathibela would sit this one out as he was never said to have made a confession.
“Next year, between January 13 and 24, the court will be dealing with the closing arguments and then after that, it will make judgments on all these trials-within-a-trial,” Mkhabela said. “The State will decide if it calls other witnesses and the defence decides what to do before the main trial is set.”
Mathibela remains behind bars after his R50 000 bail was withdrawn when he failed to adhere to the conditions. He was accused of leaving the country for a holiday in Mauritius. Police bust him while he was allegedly preparing to go on another holiday in Dubai.
He also faces charges of extortion and intimidation of Mamelodi business people.