Cape Town - Three men accused of planning the murder of advocate Pete Mihalik appeared in the Western Cape High Court, where the alleged “shooter” had the “taxi boss” apologising for his insults.
Vuyile Maliti, from Khayelitsha, is in the witness box as he testifies in his own defence.
He smirked on the stand during cross-examination by Sizwe Biyela’s lawyer, who put it to him that the KwaZulu-Natal man was “insulted” by Maliti’s “suspicion” that the Kruger Rands Maliti sold were stolen.
Biyela’s lawyers said he was “offended” because the alleged shooter comes from a very proud family and heritage in KZN, “and for you to have thought that he stole the coins and had the suspicion to have stolen the coins is wrong. He did not steal the coins. He bought it from Lukas.”
Maliti said: “If he got offended, I would like to apologise but to explain, I did not say ... I’m not sure where he got it from. It was just my thinking.”
Maliti said he sold the gold, but when asked what he did with the money, he gazed up from his maps and cellphone records and said, “I used it”, without clarifying.
His lawyer put it to him, “On October 29 (and 30) ... were you in any way involved in the murder of Pete Mihalik?” Maliti said, “No”.
The lawyer said, “Were you in York Street at any time that morning?” He said, “No.”
His lawyer said, “Did you, with anybody, plan to commit the murder of Pete Mihalik?” Maliti said, “No.”
During the trial, evidence was led by the State regarding his involvement in obtaining a vehicle days before Mihalik was killed. It was alleged the vehicle Maliti hired was used in the lawyer’s killing.
He said: “The way I see things, the Polo that was showed here as the evidence is much older than the one I was driving.”
Elaborating on his evidence, he said the model of the Polo identified by the State was not the same as his own Polo
“The Polo shown here, its windows is dark ... The one I was driving, the windows are clear. It’s a see-through, and I doubt the hiring out companies hire out cars (with) windows that are dark.”
The trial continues.