Durban - DNA evidence from cigarette butts positively linked two men to a double murder scene, the Durban High Court heard on Wednesday.
Expert forensic analyst, SAPS warrant officer Suzan Mabonda, said this when giving evidence in the trial of Scelo Meshack Matabane, Siyabongo Innocent Xaba, and Klulekani Wonderboy Mathonsi, who have denied murdering John Noble, 72, and his wife, Hester, 68.
They have also pleaded not guilty to robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Mabonda said that the cigarette stubs found at the crime scene were linked to Xaba and Mathonsi.
The murder victims, who were killed at their Shongweni smallholding last November and who ran a small engineering company from their home, had been married for 50 years.
The State says Matabane had previously worked for the Nobles but that his services had been terminated and that he conspired with his co-accused and another person, to rob them.
They are alleged to have entered the Nobles’ home through an open garage and concealed themselves until Nobel entered.
Then it is claimed they assaulted, bound and gagged him. Medical evidence was that he died from head injuries.
The gang then allegedly went to the bedroom and strangled his wife with piping from her own breathing apparatus. She had asthma and used a nebuliser.
The gang are said to have then ransacked the house and loaded their loot into the victims’ Honda Civic. Their haul included an angle grinder, a drill, welding machine, chainsaw, ornaments, laptop, DVD player, hi-fi and speakers, kitchen equipment, jewellery, cellphone, binoculars, hairdryer, a meat cleaver, and even a pair of eyeglasses.
Much of on Wednesday’s hearing - the eighth day of the trial - was devoted to a “trial within a trial” in which Judge Shyam Gyanda heard argument about the admissibility of a statement made by Mathonsi.
The court previously heard that Mathonsi had run away and dropped a bag when he spotted a police vehicle.
When he failed to stop, a constable released his dog and Mathonsi was bitten during the course of being arrested.
The angle grinder was found wrapped in the dropped bag. A ring was also recovered from his pocket and another from his finger.
Mathonsi, who did not testify, claimed through his advocate, Joseph Kilani, that he had been taken to a desolate spot and police dogs set on him to force him to make his statement. It was also argued he was mentally incompetent to make a statement.
Mathonsi was taken for treatment to RK Khan Hospital before being detained, where the district surgeon, Dr Omar Vawda, felt Mathonsi was simple-minded and might not be able to give a proper account of himself in a statement. As a result, he referred him to casualty for a second opinion by a psychiatrist.
However, there was no record of Mathonsi being seen by a psychiatrist and Vawda, who was recalled on Wednesday, said he could not locate a copy of his referral letter.
Vawda admitted on Wednesday that he might have been wrong in thinking the accused was not in his sound and sober senses at the time.
Prosecutor Nadira Moosa said that the doctor had conducted a logical interview with Mathonsi and that the accused’s mind was functioning.
Giving his ruling on the admissibility of the statement, the judge recalled that SAPS Colonel Jason McGray, who had taken the statement, had testified that Mathonsi had been co-operative and spontaneous and was remorseful.
Mathonsi’s advocate had no difficulty communicating with his client, the judge pointed out.
Finding the accused had made the statement freely and voluntarily, the judge ruled that it be admitted in evidence.
The contents will be revealed in court on Thursday.
Advocate Bonke Buthelezi is representing Matabane and advocate Ali Essop is representing Xaba.
Daily News