I am not mad – key witness in Coligny murder case

I am not mad, the key witness in the Coligny murder trial told North West High Court on Thursday.

Bonakele Pakisi, the sole eyewitness of the incident told the court that Warrant Officer Popo Seponkane dismissed him as a mentally disturbed person when he reported the murder of a teenage boy to the police.

“Why will Warrant Officer Seponkane say you are mad, do you know the reasons,” advocate Hennie du Plessis asked him during cross examination.

Pakisi responded: “I do not know. He tried to lower my dignity.”

He was testifying in the murder trial of Pieter Doorewaard, 26, and Philip Schutte, 34. The men are accused of murdering Matlhomola Mosweu of Scotland informal settlement in Coligny.

Doorewaard and Schutte are facing charges of murder, intimidation, kidnapping, unlawful possession of firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, theft and pointing of a firearm.

The State alleges the two killed 16-year-old Mosweu on April 20, 2017 at Scotland informal settlement in Coligny after accusing him of stealing a sunflower from their employer Pieter Kasten’s field at the Rietvlei farm in Coligny.

They claimed they put Mosweu at the back of a van intending to take him to the police station but claim that he jumped out of the moving van and injured his neck. He died on his way to hospital.

However, Pakisi maintained Mosweu was thrown out of a moving van.

The State further charged that the two intimidated, kidnapped and stole a cellphone from Pakisi. He was also pointed with a firearm.

Du Plessis accused Pakisi of lying under oath and contradicting his initial statement to the police.

In a bid to poke to holes in his testimony, Du Plessis quizzed Pakisi about the routes the pair used when they drove him around with Mosweu in a van.

He said Pakisi was contradicting himself about certain locations he was taken to and said his testimony was different from what he had initially said in his statement.

“I put it to you that you are not telling the truth. You are changing you versions,” he said.

Pakisi replied that he was telling the truth.

Du Plessis asked him about the statement he made to Seponkane.

Pakisi said he was not happy about the content of that statement and did not read it completely as it was incorrect.

“I was discouraged from continuing reading the statement because of the incorrect information I come across in the statement,” he said.

He added that he made another statement to Colonel Petrus Nkosi.

Du Plessis pointed out that in the statement commissioned by Colonel Nkosi, Pakisi mentioned Henwil abattoir while he did not mention the abattoir in his evidence-in-chief.

“The information about the abattoir is incorrect, I did not say anything about the abattoir,” he replied.

“Where did Colonel Nkosi get the Henwil abattoir if it is not from you?” Du Plessis asked.

“I do not know, Colonel Nkosi was the investigator of the case,” Pakisi replied.

Pakisi had testified that he was made to drink alcohol, forced to go knee deep in the water at a dam in Putfontein, where the accused intended to kill him by shooting him, but were discouraged by a third man who said people at the nearby farms would hear the gunshot and notice the incident.

The case continues. Doorewaard and Schutte are out on R5 000 bail each and their bail was extended.

– African News Agency (ANA)

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