Two of the three men accused of murdering UCT student Dominic Giddy are expected to make admissions when the case against them resumes in the Cape Town Regional Court on Friday.
Further evidence in to the murder of 22-year-old Giddy was due to be heard on Thursday, but the trial was delayed because two State witnesses were not at court.
Zukisani Sonqwaku, 24, Simphiwe Ngoma, 21, and Bongani Mathamo, 27, stand accused of robbing Giddy and two of his friends, Daniel Martin, 23, and Pieter Slabbert, 22, while they were walking to Giddy’s Observatory home on February 13, 2010.
Giddy was stabbed dead.
The investigating officer and a cellphone record expert from MTN had been subpoenaed to appear in court on Thursday, but could not make it because both of them were sick, prosecutor Nopelo Nhantsi said. She suggested that warrants for their arrest be issued, but lawyers for the accused moved for the case to continue.
Ngoma’s lawyer, Likhaya Makana, said his client was willing to make admissions about the first statement taken by the investigating officer.
The second element Makana and Sonqwaku’s lawyer, advocate Andre Pienaar, are expected to tackle today involves cellphone records detailing calls made the night before and after Giddy’s murder.
Nhantsi added that Ngoma had called his girlfriend a day before the murder, according to his cellphone records. This, the State says, goes against Ngoma’s version that he was with his girlfriend that night.
After an hour-long adjournment, Makana asked magistrate Jan van Zyl whether the case could be rolled to today to consult with his client so formal admissions could be formulated.
The men, who have been in custody for more than two years, are due back in court on Friday.
Cape Argus