A State witness has placed one of the men accused of the murder and rape of Sinoxolo Mafevuka in the vicinity of where the teenager's naked body was found in a communal toilet.
Yongama Mdiya testified before Acting Judge Taswell Papier yesterday in the trial of two cousins Xolisa and Athabile, who pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He said he and his friend had spotted Xolisa with other men about 150m from the communal toilets on the night Sinoxolo was last seen by her family.
The 19-year-old Sinoxolo had left her home about 8pm to use a communal toilet on March 1 last year at SST Block in Khayelitsha.
Her body was found in a leaking toilet about 200m from her home.
Mdiya, a Cape Peninsula University of Technology student, said he had been accompanied by his friend to buy electricity at a service station just after 10pm. They saw about seven men coming from the opposite direction, as they were walking towards his house situated near the toilets.
“I asked my friend if he knew who those guys were and he said it was Ski (Xolisa’s nickname) and his friends.
“I had asked him because I wanted to be safe, as it was dark and (I) wanted to be sure if it's people that we knew.” He said he saw Xolisa around the neighbourhood.
Mdiya testified his friend went to use the toilet, while he had gone inside his house.
When Mdiya returned to use the toilet, there were two people having a conversation with his friend. He said he checked two or three toilets, which he could not use, as some of them were leaking and he did not see Sinoxolo. The following day, Mdayi saw a crowd gathered around the toilets where Sinoxolo’s body was found.
He said he could see there was a dead body in the toilet, but could not identify the person. Mdiya said he could not remember if the toilet where the body was found was one of the facilities he wanted to use.
None of the DNA found at the scene could link Xolisa and Athabile, who are cousins of Sinoxolo’s boyfriend, to her.
The trial continues.