THE mother of a teenager stabbed to death in Marine Drive, Margate last year, testified in the Port Shepstone Regional Court last Thursday. Regina Ntombizonke Madiya, mother of Ngcebo Madiya (18), told how her son was killed in front of her. Sipho Helman Danca (23) was charged with murder and two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mrs Madiya said that she and her two children were walking in the Margate CBD when they noticed two suspicious looking men walking on the other side of the road. Prior to this she had asked her son to keep her cellphone in his bag. The men crossed the road to the side where they were walking. Mrs Madiya said one of the men appeared to be urinating. To avoid them, they started to cross the road.
It was then that the men snatched the bag which was hanging from Ngcebo’s shoulder. He ran after them. She then saw her son on the ground and thought he had tripped and fallen. She lifted him up but he failed to stand or talk. Then she noticed the stab wound on his chest. The teenager died at the roadside. The police were called and later Margate officers arrested Danca. The murder weapon and stolen bag were recovered.
Mrs Madiya was cross-examined by Danca’s defence attorney, who said his client would say the cellphone was given to him by a friend at a tavern before the incident. Mrs Madiya replied: “that was a total mistake”. A witness in the case testified that he had gone to report a case at the charge office when he saw his cellphone covered in blood along with two other cellphones and a black bag.
The witness explained that the police had caught Danca for an offence he had committed in town and had bought him to the charge office. He (the witness) was standing at the roadside when some men pulled him to the stairways. “They slapped me with open hands and punched me with clenched fists,” he said. The witness managed to identify the accused who had demanded money and had been carrying a knife.
He explained that Danca had taken his cellphone and money after he stabbed him on the forehead, shoulder, buttock and the side of his rib cage. “They wanted to kill me. I said rather than killing me take what I have,” he said. Magistrate Nonesi Dlamini postponed the trial to November 20.
