adminJohannesburg — The trial of three men and a minor alleged to have murdered Mozambican national Emmanuel Sithole is expected to continue on August 17, the National Prosecuting Authority said yesterday.
The minor appeared briefly in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday accompanied by a family member.
Prosecutor Jacob Tloubatla told News24 after the brief appearance that according to the Child Justice Act, a minor cannot be detained for more than 14 days at a time. His last appearance was on July 10. He was expected to return to court again on August 7. During their last appearance as a group on June 30, the court heard how Sithole had a beer poured on him prior to the attack that led to his death.
State witness Fabian Gomes, a street vendor who also sold vegetables like Sithole on 2nd avenue, pointed to the four accused — Mthinta Bhengu, Sizwe Mngomezulu, Sifundi Mzimzela and the 17-year-old minor who allegedly stabbed Sithole in the streets of Alexandra on April 18.
Gomes told the court that the minor had taken a packet of cigarettes from Sithole’s table without paying for them.
They then moved away from the table and Sithole, after realising that the cigarettes had been taken, followed the four and told the 17-year-old minor to return the cigarettes.
“As the deceased followed them to ask them to bring back the cigarettes, they walked and stood in front of another street vendor, and then one of the accused was holding a bottle of beer and he poured the bottle of beer onto the deceased’s (Sithole’s) head,” Gomes told the court. — AFP
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