Coligny murder trial: Teen might have been thrown from moving vehicle several times, court told
12 June 2018
Sixteen-year-old Matlhomola Moshoeu might have been thrown from the back of a moving vehicle several times on April 20, 2017.
This was the testimony of key witness Bonakele Pakisi in the North West High Court in Mahikeng on Monday.
Pakisi was testifying in the trial of Pieter Doorewaard, 27, and Philip Schutte, 34 who have pleaded not guilty to charges of Moshoeu's murder, intimidation, kidnapping, theft, the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and pointing a firearm.
"He was thrown the first time and I was watching... I took the police to the scene and I explained that it appeared that the child was thrown from the vehicle again and again [because] the vehicle would move and then stop," Pakisi said under cross examination by Advocate Pieter Smit for Schutte.
Doorewaard and Schutte are accused of killing Matlhomola in Coligny last year. The pair claim they caught the teenager stealing a sunflower on April 20, 2017.
Pakisi is the only person who claims he saw Moshoeu being thrown from a moving vehicle.
However, Smit who kept pressing Pakisi for more answers said nowhere in Pakisi's statement did he mention that Moshoeu was thrown from the moving vehicle repeatedly.
"Did you tell the truth, did you relay the events correctly, did you tell the truth to the interviewer?
"Where [in the statement] did you tell the police that you assumed that the child was thrown for the second and third time. Must we now assume that Colonel [Petrus] Nkosi recorded the information incorrectly?" Smit asked.
Pakisi replied: "I told him everything that had happened. I told him the truth."
Smit accused Pakisi of shifting the blame everytime when he is "caught in a lie".
"When you are confronted by your contradictions then it is easy to shift the blame," Smit said.
Earlier on Monday, Doorewaard's lawyer, advocate Hennie du Plessis, accused Pakisi of changing his version of events.
"I want to put it to you that you have been fabricating your version and changing [it] the whole time we are in court," he told Pakisi.
"In short, I don't believe you. Your version started with two suspects throwing the deceased from the van. Another one says there were three suspects who threw the child from the van," Du Plessis said.
Moshoeu's death sparked protests in the area with some residents saying he was killed because he was black. Several houses and businesses were burnt to the ground.
Doorewaard and Schutte are out on R5 000 bail each.
Pakisi has been on the stand since last week Wednesday. The trial continues on Tuesday.
