Durban — The first man accused of killing a taxi boss Dustin Pillay of the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association told the Durban High court on Tuesday that on the day of the killing he was nowhere near Ballito Shakaskraal.
The accused, Cebo Xulu, is on the witness stand. He told the court that on the day Pillay was shot and killed he was at New Germany, Pinetown, where he used to live, and had plans with the mother of his child to go to buy clothes for Heritage Day.
He said in the morning he called the mother of his child to tell her to get ready as he was about to leave the house and fetch them at Ntuzuma C section, where they had been visiting family.
“I got ready and I left the house after 9am. I proceeded to Ntuzuma. When I arrived, I waited outside the premises. She came out with the child and with items, and got into the car. I think that was somewhere after 10am,” said Xulu.
He said they left to go back to New Germany, stopping at a BP garage on the way, because they wanted to withdraw money at the ATM machine there.
He said the mother of his child went into the garage to withdraw the money. When she came back, she told him the ATM was not functional, so they proceeded to Spar, which is near the garage. He said while she went to withdraw money at the Standard bank ATM, he received a call from his co-accused, Thokozani Mthethwa.
Xulu said Mthethwa asked him where he was, and for him to meet with him and the deceased, accused Mfanufikile Dlamini, at Hammarsdale, as the brother of Dlamini and his friends had been shot.
He said when his “Baby Mama” came back to the car, he told her about the call from Mthethwa. He took her and the child to New Germany and proceeded to Hammarsdale.
Advocate Gareth Leppan, representing Xulu, had provided the court with cellphone records which showed his phone was connected around Pinetown on the day of the incident. However, the State questioned how neither Dlamini nor Mthethwa ever said they were together with Xulu.
Pillay was shot and killed in September 2019. The remaining accused, Xulu and Mthethwa, had pleaded not guilty, and denied having any close relationship to the deceased, as the State witnesses have said. The accused are facing 18 charges which include murder and eight counts of attempted murder.
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