Omphitlhetse Mooki
Witnesses in the Eugene Terre’Blanche murder trial came under fire yesterday, with defence counsels grilling them over their contradictory statements.
Among the three witnesses called was Matshediso Matsietsa, who said Chris Mahlangu had boasted about killing the right-wing leader, telling workers at a farm adjacent to Terre’Blanche’s that he was their boss from that moment on.
As Mahlangu threw down Terre’Blanche’s phone to prove the AWB leader was dead, the teenager had looked on quietly, and seemed okay.
But counsel for the teenager, advocate Norman Arendse, pointed out that Matsietsa had given a different version when she gave a statement to the police last year.
She said the teen had looked terrified, a point emphasised by another witness on Monday.
“In your evidence-in-chief you said the accused was okay. So what must we believe? Your statement as it is or your evidence in court … or a bit of both?” Arendse asked.
Matsietsa remained silent.
Earlier, the State called Richard Selane, who admitted there had been a misunderstanding between him and the police officer who took down his statement, because he was not well conversant in Afrikaans.
“You made your statement in Afrikaans … do you understand it well? The person who took down the statement, did you understand each other well?” Mahlangu’s lawyer, Khomotso Tlouana, asked.
Selane said: “No, we didn’t understand each other well.”
Selane had testified that Mahlangu had approached him wearing bloodstained overalls and asked for a cellphone to report a murder to the police that he had just committed.
But Tlouana disputed his evidence that Mahlangu’s words were that he and the teen stabbed Terre’Blanche.
“Accused one will tell the court that he did not tell you he stabbed the deceased. He told you he was in a fight with the deceased and the deceased got injured,” Tlouana said.
Selane was also grilled by Arendse, who said the man’s evidence in court was different from what he told the police after the murder.
Selane said in his statement that he had overheard the teen talking to the police on the phone telling them they had killed Terre’Blanche.
But when Arendse argued it was impossible to have heard the teen talking to the police as he was between 5 and 10 metres away, Selane answered “yes”.
“Your evidence (in chief) was that you didn’t hear what was said over the phone. So when you say in your statement (to the police) that the one that is a child had spoken to the police, telling them they had killed Terre’Blanche, that was not correct?” Arendse asked.
Selane said: “Yes, I didn’t hear anything,” leaving members of Terre’Blanche’s family shaking their heads in disbelief.
The overall that Selane said he saw Mahlangu wearing was handed in as evidence to the court, along with other items of clothing, a pair of gumboots and the steel pipe allegedly used to beat up Terre’Blanche.
A cellphone believed to be the one Mahlangu and the teen stole from Terre’Blanche and a panga they had allegedly used to kill him were also handed in.
The two denied killing the right-wing leader or boasting about it. But testimony by Mahlangu in his bail application came back to haunt him, with Judge John Horn ruling yesterday that the statement can be submitted as evidence.
Tlouana had opposed the ruling, saying the statement which placed Mahlangu at the crime scene would prejudice him as he was not properly warned by Puna Moroko, who represented him at his bail hearing, or the presiding magistrate.
“It would be far fetched to think the accused was unaware of the contents of the affidavit. I am satisfied that accused one was sufficiently informed and made aware of the implications of his statement. I therefore rule that the bail record be admitted as part of the proceedings,” Judge Horn said.
In his statement at the bail hearing, Mahlangu said he and the teenager had confronted Terre’Blanche about unpaid wages.
The trial, held in camera, continues.