Durban — An accused in the trial concerning the murder of an off-duty Durban Public Order policeman killed at the height of the July 2021 unrest, told the court that when he first arrived on scene he heard the wounded officer moaning.
Zolani Leadus Zuma was first shot in Tshelimnyana, near Marianhill, before his body was stuffed into two refuse bags and he was loaded into the boot of his VW Polo that was torched in Canyon Quarry.
Sibusiso Ndlela and his co-accused, Mzikayifani “Kayelihle” Ndebele, are on trial in relation to his murder and kidnapping.
It’s alleged that Zuma had been driving in his blue VW polo dressed in civilian clothes on the night of July 13.
While driving he came across Ndebele and the assailants who were helping people transport looted goods in a car that Afrika Mthembu was driving, the policeman followed them to a house in Tshelimnyama.
At the house, the officer confronted Mthembu and the assailants and he produce his state firearm. Ndebele disarmed Zuma and allegedly shot him. In the process, a shot hit his uncle, Mthembu, in the knee.
Mthembu was rushed to St Mary’s Hospital in his Kia truck by his son, Lungelo, as well as his nephew, Nzuzo Khethokuhle Mngadi, who gave evidence in the trial for the State.
Zuma’s car was found burnt the following day, and his charred body was discovered in the boot.
Ndlela, previously in his evidence in chief, had told the court that he did not know whether the officer had been alive or not when he arrived at Mthembu’s home, nor when they returned from dropping off Mthembu at hospital.
During his cross-examination by the State on Thursday, he elaborated on his evidence, saying that he had just walked passed the wounded officer and had not gone to him to check on his condition.
“When I first arrived on the scene I didn't see him moving, but heard him moaning. When I arrived the second time, yes, there was blood and he was still lying in the same position I had left him. I wouldn't know where he was bleeding from. All I can say is that I didn't go closer to him to check where he was injured and whether he was alive or not,” said Ndlela.
He had also told the court in his evidence-in-chief that when he had boarded the officer’s Polo, with his friend Samu and Duve driving while the wounded policeman was in the boot, he had thought that they were transporting him hospital.
But, senior State prosecutor, Advocate Krishen Shah, in his cross-examination, said: “Given that you didn't know the deceased was alive, why would you think you were going to the hospital?
“Is it normal to take a person to the hospital in the boot of a car? Clearly, he could have been put in the passenger seat or in the back passenger seat. He could have also easily been put in the back of the Kia.”
The trial continues.
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