Former Big Brother celebrity Brad Wood shot at four alleged illegal miners without giving them a chance to surrender, according to a report on Wednesday.
Wood told the Delmas High Court that he would normally have told the miners to give themselves up, but the visibility was bad and he was scared of being attacked, The Sowetan reported.
"I did not want to give a warning shot. I did not want them to see me because they would have shot me or scattered...
"I did not know the terrain. There could have been booby traps. I did not see anybody. I only identified the illegal miners by lights and fired cover shots."
Judge Andre Louw asked him if he did not foresee that some miners would be hit, to which Wood replied that he was not aiming at anybody.
Wood and his co-accused, Herbie Trouw, Willem Coetzer, Nicolas Pretorius and Micky Mazenen, were charged with murder following the killing of the miners at the embattled Aurora Empowerment Systems Grootvlei mine, near Springs, last year.
The State alleges the five went in "guns blazing", and shot the miners without any warning.
Several other illegal miners were wounded. Wood was the company's security head at the time. – Sapa