Coligny murder trial: Court hears that accused returned to work while injured teen lay in the road
6 September 2018
Two men accused of the murder of a Coligny teen left the severely injured 15-year-old lying in the road and returned to work without any certainty that medical personnel were alerted, the North West High Court in Mahikeng has heard.
"You decided to go back to the workshop and not check on the deceased, where he was laying," Judge Ronald Hendricks put to one of the accused, Phillip Schutte, in court on Thursday.
"Yes, we went back to the workshop," Schutte responded.
Schutte, 34, was testifying in his own defence in the trial in which he and co-accused Pieter Doorewaard, 27, are charged with the murder of Matlhomola Moshoeu on April 20, 2017.
Both have denied that they murdered Moshoeu. Instead, they claimed that they caught the teen and one of his peers stealing sunflowers and that he jumped off the back of their bakkie while they were on their way to the police station with him.
Schutte, who has been in the dock for the past three days, testified that they headed back to their workshop after reporting the incident to the police.
"Was it not important for you to check on the deceased?" the judge asked.
But Schutte responded that he "wasn't thinking straight" that day.
Earlier, he testified that the police told him and Doorewaard that they would phone them if they needed to and that they would contact medical services.
Hendricks asked why they left the police station without being sure that the police had contacted medical services.
"I took the word of the police," Schutte said.
Hendricks also asked Schutte how many sunflowers the two boys stole and what the value of one was.
Schutte said there were about five or six sunflowers and that it cost about R60 to R80 for each sunflower head.
Earlier on Thursday morning, prosecutor Moeketsi Moeketsi put it to Schutte that Moshoeu never jumped from the bakkie and that they intentionally threw him from the vehicle and left him in the road.
"Your version before this court that the deceased jumped off the moving bakkie when he met his fate is just a mere fabrication. What is your response?"
"I don't agree with the statement. According to me the child freely jumped off the vehicle," Schutte responded.
The defence's case was closed.
Closing arguments are expected to be presented on September 25. Both accused are out on bail.
