POLOKWANE – Additional statements made by former domestic worker Sibongile Ngwenya and a general worker at Patel’s shop, Danford Gundiza were also heard in court.
A police officer, Muhammed Wahab read the statements made by the latter two witnesses wherein Ngwenya stated she was visited by a man claiming to be a policeman at the house of Patel’s parents. Patel’s mother, Mahejebeen Banu Patel, asked her why the police were looking for her and what they wanted to which Ngwenya said she answered she did not know. Patel’s mother asked her what she told the police in her statement and warned her to be careful as she would end up in jail.
The next day a driver came to pick Ngwenya up and took her to a business parking lot in town and a person met her there, informing her he was her lawyer. He questioned her about the case wherein Rameez Patel stands accused of killing his wife Fatima in April 2015 and asked her if she was there when “all this” happened. She answered no to the question and the ‘lawyer’ told her ‘someone’ was looking for her and she asked him who. He told her the police wanted to arrest her and told her when asked, she must tell them another woman referred her to this lawyer because she (Ngwenya ) was afraid of being arrested. Ngwenya told him she did not need a lawyer, she was ‘fine by herself’.
You may also want to read: ‘I hit her with a cricket bat to shut her up’
Danford Gundiza’s additional statement stated he was outside the house the day of the murder. He said Fatima asked Patel to bring her some boxes from the shop to which he answered he would. Gundiza later heard the couple fighting and Fatima shouting to Patel: “Tell me the truth, why are you lying?”. He said Patel then ‘took all of us away from the house’. Gundiza was in his room at around 14:00 when Patel called him and said they must go to the shop. They stopped at a friend of Patel’s house and picked him up. The friend and Patel asked Gundiza to stay in the car and went into the house. Gundiza stated that about four days after the murder, he asked Patel why his wife needed boxes and Patel said Fatima wanted to move out of the house.
You may also want to read: ‘I didn’t kill my wife’ – Rameez Patel
Photos of a gun owned by Patel, taken by Sibongile Ngwenya on her cell phone, was also shown to the court. Police officer Muhammed Wahab testified he found a cricket bat on the ceiling of the garage when searching the house for the bat and clothes Patel wore on the day of the murder. Patel could not remember what happened to the shoes he wore on the day of the murder. Wahab also said that, when investigating a possible motive for the murder, he was told Patel had an extra-marital affair with one Nasreen Mayet. Photo and dates Patel visited her at her home, however, did not correspond, as two dates shown were during the time Patel was in jail and not yet out on bail. Wahab said there definitively were more photos in the docket and some were missing. He said he did not make the copies himself or put them into the file.
Abdul Nazim, the ex- husband of Nasreen Mayet took the witness stand and testified he and his former wife got divorced on 12 January 2015. He became aware of the relationship between his wife and Rameez Patel in August 2014. They were allegedly meeting at a gym and at the school which their children attended. Nazim said he spoke to both of them and they said they were ‘just talking’. He said he tried to stop the affair as he talked to both of them about it. The two couples also met at a restaurant in October 2014 to discuss the issue and his ex-wife and Rameez Patel said they would not talk to or see each other anymore. It came to light that both Rameez and Nazim’s ex-wife asked their spouses on 2 September for a separation. Nazim, however, continued to find his ex and Patel together and she (Mayet) asked him for a divorce. She first stayed in house in Bendor village which he rented for her, but later lived with Patel in a house in Cycad Estate. Mayet is currently staying with her parent.
Both the State and the Defence intended to call two more witnesses and the trial will provisionally continue on 7 November.
Read more: Rameez Patel charged with his mom’s murder
Patel’s murder case postponed so he can mourn the death of his mother
Murder accused Rameez Patel’s father killed in shooting
