DURBAN - The State has indicated they wanted to exhume the body of Amaoti resident Mondli Majola, who was killed in Phoenix during the riots in July, to prove that he was indeed shot.
This was after attorney Carl van der Merwe, who is representing Dylan Govender, argued on Wednesday that Govender was wrongfully charged for murder because the post-mortem results revealed that Majola had died from stab wounds and not gunshot wounds as the State had previously alleged before the court.
This emerged on Wednesday during the bail application of Govender, his brother Ned and neighbour Jeetendra Jaikissoon in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court.
The trio all face a charge of murder and Govender also faces an attempted murder charge.
Van Der Merwe also argued that the State was wrong for charging his client under a Schedule 6 offence – that is an accused is detained in custody unless the accused satisfies the court that exceptional circumstances exist, which justify his or her release.
The offences listed in Schedule 6 are the most serious violent crimes, namely murder, rape and robbery.
The trio were arrested on July 22 after a special police unit, tasked with investigating the murder of 36 people in Phoenix during the unrest, obtained a video which the State claimed clearly showed the men taking part in an attack on five men, who were walking on the road in Palmview, Phoenix.
During the attack, Majola was killed.
Three men were left seriously injured, while one escaped.
State advocate Bonga Mbokazi said in the video footage submitted as evidence, Govender was seen shooting Majola. He did not understand why the post-mortem report found that Majola had no gunshot wounds, adding that the State would challenge the post-mortem result.
Mbokazi also argued that even if Govender did not shoot Majola, he would still be liable for murder under common purpose because “even if you stopped the victim from running away and you did not touch him you are deemed as participated in the act resulted in his killing”.
The State also said it would call a video expert to clarify the content of the footage and determine whether people on the footage were correctly identified.
On Van der Merwe’s arguments, magistrate Irfaan Khalil said it was still in the early stages for the defence to raise such issues because the court would deal with that aspect during the trial.
Due to the video footage dispute, the magistrate ordered that the video be played in court for him and everyone to see.
The State has alleged that in the video footage, Govender shot Majola in the face.
The matter was postponed until Friday.
Majola’s father, Learnmore Siwela, who was accompanied to court by a handful of ANC supporters, welcomed the decision to play the video in court, adding that he believed seeing how his son was killed could help come to terms with his death and find closure.
At present, police said 56 people have been arrested and linked to the murders that took place in Phoenix. The suspects have already appeared in court facing multiple charges, including murder, attempted murder, possession of firearms, and ammunition.
As of last month, 18 people were arrested for their roles in the unrest that rocked KZN and Gauteng.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said 36 people died in Phoenix during the unrest and added that 33 of the 36 were murdered.
Cele also said that security companies were being investigated for their alleged role in the unrest. The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority also confirmed that it was investigating 15 security companies for the alleged breach of the code of conduct.
It has been calculated that about 800 stores were looted and 100 malls were either burnt down or suffered significant fire damage and a number of distribution centres, particularly in Durban, were looted with structural destruction.
Meanwhile, the eThekwini Economic Development and Planning Committee said about R1.5 billion has been lost in stock, a R15bn loss to property, more than 50 000 informal traders have lost their livelihoods, approximately 1.5 million people have lost their potential to earn an income and there are about 150 000 jobs at risk.
Daily News