Durban - The owner of the Rocca Bar nightclub has told how a patron went “ballistic”, threatening to kill male friends spotted with his ex-wife moments before he was shot in the club.
Tyrone Lundy testified on Tuesday at the trial of Hector Britts in the Durban Regional Court.
Britts, 33, a former mixed martial arts fighter and bouncer, is accused of murdering Craigh Botha at the nightclub in Morningside on August 4, 2013.
He is alleged to have shot Botha in the stomach after an argument led to a brawl.
Botha died a week later in hospital.
Britts has pleaded not guilty to the murder.
Describing events leading to the incident, Lundy told magistrate Fariedha Mohamed that he had heard Botha shouting at Britts on the dance floor in the VIP section of the club.
He decided to try to sort out the problem and get Botha to calm down.
Lundy said he knew Botha would listen to him because he had known him for some time.
As he approached the group where Botha’s former wife, Cindy, was, he said he heard a woman say that Botha had struck Cindy.
“Nicole was shouting, ‘Craigh hit Cindy’ and complaining about it. I asked Craigh, ‘Did you hit a girl?’
“He was surprised in the manner I approached him and he screamed, ‘I will f****** kill them, I will beat them up’, referring to the men in Cindy’s group.
“Craigh was going ballistic. He was shouting, pointing and became explosive. The situation was becoming unmanageable,” Lundy testified.
He said he told Britts to leave as he felt Botha saw him as a threat. Lundy described Botha as a very muscular figure who weighed almost 130kg and was very difficult to control during the argument.
He said Botha eventually agreed to follow him out of the club on his own accord without any physical force.
Lundy decided to leave through the balcony area as it would have been much easier to lead Botha out.
“About a quarter of the way down, I saw Hector on my left and I told him everything will be fine. Craigh was behind me.
“As I took a further two steps, when I looked behind me I saw Craigh climbing into Hector, repeatedly punching him. Hector slumped backwards on a bench and Craigh continued punching him.
“Hector was just laying flat; he looked like he was knocked out,” Lundy said.
“I rushed to grab Craigh and he pushed me. I fell next to Hector. As I fell I tried to kick him off Hector. I eventually almost rugby tackled him off Hector.
“Craigh and I came face to face and I was blocking his punches. I was wrestling with him trying to calm him down. He was going crazy. I just heard what sounded like a slap noise and the next thing Craigh just fell,” he said.
Lundy said he saw Botha holding his stomach and tried to assist by lifting his shirt to check what had happened.
There was something that looked like a black hole just below his chest.
When he turned Botha over slightly on the right hand side, he saw another hole with blood squirting out.
He placed one hand over the wound and his other over Botha’s head trying to comfort him. Lundy said he did not see Britts anywhere near them or anyone else in the vicinity.
He screamed for help. He said the ambulance took almost 45 minutes to arrive and attend to Botha.
Lundy also testified that Cindy had come over and given “a dirty look” without showing any compassion to the injured Botha.
Under cross-examination by defence attorney, Ridewaan Sayed, Lundy admitted he could not rule out someone else shooting Botha as his focus was solely on trying to protect himself.
The trial will continue next month when more witnesses are expected to testify.
Daily News