{"id":70154,"date":"2017-08-02T10:10:25","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T08:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/?p=70154"},"modified":"2017-08-02T14:45:15","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T12:45:15","slug":"day-3-coffincase-trial-happens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/news-headlines\/2017\/08\/02\/day-3-coffincase-trial-happens\/","title":{"rendered":"Update 11 – Day 3 #CoffinCase trial – as it happens"},"content":{"rendered":"

09:56<\/strong> Court is about to start. Several explosive evidence pieces are expected to be handed into court today.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye on this article for regural updates of court proceedings including evidence pieces.<\/p>\n

10:21<\/strong> Adv. Org Basson, on behalf of\u00a0 Theo Jackson, hands in new evidence before court consisting of three photos.<\/p>\n

The photos show Victor Mlotshwa on the scene as well as details of when the photo was taken.<\/p>\n

The date displays 7 September 2016.<\/p>\n

Adv. Robert Molokoane says the state accepts the photo of Mlotshwa but disputes the date displayed on it.<\/p>\n

10:27<\/strong> Adv. Basson asks about Delton Sithole’s highest level of education as well as his daily duties as a general worker for a contractor at a mine.<\/p>\n

Sithole says his job is to clean the belt. He says although he has Grade 9 as his highest level of education, he cannot read or write.<\/p>\n

Basson asks how he could then read the article about the coffin in the Daily Sun.<\/p>\n

Sithole said he saw the picture. He said he made a mistake when he testified that he read the article.<\/p>\n

10:31<\/strong> A copy of the Daily Sun article is shown to Sithole.<\/p>\n

Basson says that yesterday Sithole testified that the article referred that the incident happened either in KZN or Mpumalanga.<\/p>\n

Sithole agrees, laughs.<\/p>\n

Basson says that he can understand English very well and that a person with Grade 9 can read and write well.<\/p>\n

Sithole smiles widely and disagrees with Basson.<\/p>\n

He says someone else was reading the article for him.<\/p>\n

10:35<\/strong> Basson shows Sithole the picture handed is as evidence this morning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sithole says that he cannot read the detail on the photo. He recognizes the man on the photo as Victor Mlotshwa.<\/p>\n

He is wearing a brown shirt with white stripes. Sithole says it’s the same shirt Mlotshwa was wearing on the day he left him with Jackson and Oosthuyzen, on 17 August<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

10:39<\/strong> Basson asks Sithole about the vehicle in the photo. He says he can see the registration partially. Says he sees the numbers 1,0 and 7.<\/p>\n

Basson: So you can read.<\/p>\n

Basson asks about the position Sithole demonstrated to court yesterday, that he was lying in when he was kicked by the accused.<\/p>\n

Asks him to show how big the space on the back of the bakkie was. Sithole says he will not be able to do it, because he is not sure.<\/p>\n

Basson says the length on the back of a Toyota Land Cruiser is 1,8m and 1,5m wide.<\/p>\n

Sithole says there was a kierrie with something on the end on the back of the bakkie.<\/p>\n

Basson asks if there was anything else. Sithole says he didn’t see anything else.<\/p>\n

Basson says Jackson will testify that the bakkie on the photo was the one he was driving on 7 September 2016.<\/p>\n

Sithole says he knows nothing of 7 September<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

On 17 August<\/span><\/span> he drove the same bakkie.<\/p>\n

10:47<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Basson asks if Sithole knows who the person standing on the back of the bakkie is. He says no.<\/p>\n

Basson asks about the spare wheel on the back as well as a flat black object.
\nThere is also a wheel arch visible on the back of the bakkie. Sithole says he cannot tell what it is.<\/p>\n

10:49<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Basson approaches Sithole to show him the wheel arch.
\nHe says the wheel arch is in the of the loading bin of the bakkie. A black object straddling the wheel arch is a toolbox, built onto the back of the loading bin.<\/p>\n

10:52<\/strong> Sithole says he does not know. There is also a round pipe and other loose items on the back, used in Jackson’s daily work.<\/p>\n

Basson wants to know where Sithole was lying with all that objects when they kicked him. He said that he was lying on the back.<\/p>\n

10:45<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Basson says his client will testify that the items on the photo were on the back in the day in question and hardly any space for someone to lie down.<\/p>\n

10:57<\/strong> Basson asks if Sithole is certain about date of incident. He says yes,\u00a0 17 August<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Sithole says that he has a cellphone. But that his cellphone cannot take pictures.<\/p>\n

Basson refers to the date at the bottom of photo. Sithole says he sees it.<\/p>\n

Basson says that his client will testify that he took this photo on 7 September 2016.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sithole’s statement<\/p>\n

11:03<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Basson now asks about Sithole’s statement.
\nHe asks how far the police station is from Big House. Sithole does not know.<\/p>\n

Basson says it is about three kilometers, not far. Sithole says for someone who walks it is far.<\/p>\n

He says he walks far to work. Basson says yet he did not walk to the police station on the day he was assaulted.<\/p>\n

Sithole says that he was scared to walk in the street because the accused were traveling with bakkies and could see him.<\/p>\n

Basson asks why he did not wait until nightfall then. Sithole said when it was night Mlotshwa was already back and they decided not to go.<\/p>\n

Basson asks why he did not take a group of friends to go to the police station. Sithole says he did not think of that.<\/p>\n

Basson: That is what makes your version so improbable. You were degraded and injured but yet you do nothing. You waited almost three months.<\/p>\n

11:11<\/strong> Basson asks how many people stay in Big House. Sithole says that there are many people staying in Big House.<\/p>\n

Basson says in statement Sithole said that two men accompanied him to the place where they last saw Mlotshwa to attempt to rescue him.<\/p>\n

Basson asks if he was no longer scared. He asks if Sithole told the men with him that Oosthuyzen had a firearm. He says he did not.<\/p>\n

Basson asks for the names of the men that accompanied him. Sithole says the were Macguy and Moshe but he does not know their surnames.<\/p>\n

Basson asks if he can meet with the two men. Sithole says he can.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regular updates of court proceedings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2844,"featured_media":70155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Jana Boshoff and Zsaraeva Nel","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[5864,5876,6029,7294,7297,7301],"class_list":["post-70154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-coffin","tag-coffin-alive","tag-coffin-assault","tag-coffin-blinkpan","tag-coffin-case-middelburg","tag-middelburg-magistrate-court-coffin-case","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["coffin","Coffin Alive","coffin assault","coffin Blinkpan","coffin case Middelburg","Middelburg Magistrate court coffin case"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}