DAYS two and three, 1 and 2 March, of the Spur murder trial mainly focused on the testimony of two eyewitnesses to the incident.
Accused two and three, as well as one of the interpreters, were late, which delayed proceedings for about an hour. But once they got under way, Judge Singh warned the two accused that if it happened again, their bail would be cancelled.
The first witness, Nicholas Mkhwanazi, was the manager on duty at the time of the incident at the Lemon Tree Spur in 2014.
Mkhwanazi was shown photographs and video footage showing the incident as it occurred, and was questioned for a short while, but not much headway was made by the end of the day, owing to various delays and postponements.
Day three got off to another rocky start with another interpreter coming late and holding things up, but when things got going, a bit more information regarding the incident came to light.
One of the defence team’s attorneys, Mr Pretorius, tried to portray the deceased as the instigator in the incident which claimed his life, but Mkwhanazi did well not too speculate and stuck to what he saw.
Witness two, Stuart Andrew Geddie (21), a waiter working at the Spur when the incident occurred, assured more of an explosive testimony by being accused of seeing the deceased’s family after the incident and talking to them in court, to which he replied, “I went to the funeral, I did not call them up or see them socially. Also, I simply asked them if they are doing okay, as that is what humans do after someone has lost someone dear to them. I was also not informed that I was not allowed any contact with them.”
Another bombshell exploded when he added during his testimony, “After the assault took place, accused four kicked the deceased again while he was on the floor, unconscious.”
Further in the questioning, it seemed as though there were some discrepancies in the original statement and what Geddie testified about in court, which he ascribed to the officer making a mistake when he noted his statement.
Continue following the RECORD for updates on the trial.
Also read:
