Pretoria - Andries Sithole was threatened with death if he did not rape Johan Kotze's ex-wife, the High Court in Pretoria was told on Thursday.
Sithole's lawyer put it to Kotze's ex-wife Ina Bonette that he had participated only because he was scared Kotze was going to shoot him.
Kotze, Sithole, Pieta Mohlane and Sello Mphaka are accused of murdering Bonette's 19-year-old son Conrad and of kidnapping, repeatedly raping, assaulting and trying to murder her on January 3.
Bonette earlier told the court that Kotze sawed and cut off her nipples, pushed a nail into her breasts and instructed the other three men to rape her during a prolonged torture session.
She had heard her son pleading for his life before Kotze shot him.
Kotze admitted shooting Conrad, but claimed the shot went off when the youth startled him by asking where his mother was.
He admitted hurting one of Bonette's breasts with pliers and slowly pushing a pin into her breast until it bled.
However, he claimed he was not himself that day, could not really control himself and had not meant to hurt her.
Questioned by Sithole's lawyer Jan van Rooyen, Bonette admitted that Sithole, Mohlane and Mphaka had not tortured or assaulted her.
She said they had acted on the instructions of Kotze, who she described as “manipulative”.
“He did give them instructions, but they were very, very willing to take it further,” Bonette said.
It was Sithole's version that he met Kotze at a bar in Pretoria and agreed to do construction work for him.
He claimed Kotze told him to bring two men to Modimolle to wash his caravan, and that he paid their taxi fares and bought them food.
The three had removed palm trees at Kotze's house and then waited for Kotze's wife to arrive because Kotze said she had the keys to the house.
According to Sithole, Kotze called them inside to get a box but suddenly produced a firearm and threatened to kill them if they did not co-operate.
He gave them pantyhose to put over their heads, and ordered Sithole to hide behind the door and the others to hide in a cupboard.
They did not talk to each other because they did not know what was going on and the events were totally unexpected.
Kotze was so aggressive they believed he would carry out his threats.
Sithole claimed Kotze told them to keep absolutely quiet, and brought his ex-wife into the room with a towel over her head.
Kotze ordered them to hold her down while he tied her up. He told her the three were “good men” who would not hurt her, and that they were there to help him so that they could “talk about things”.
According to Sithole, Kotze accused Bonette of having sex with another man and told her she was now going to have sex with three men because she could apparently not get enough and he had arranged it for her.
He ordered the three of them to open their pants and stimulate themselves to have sex with her.
Sithole claimed he was afraid he would die and climbed on top of Bonette, but made only up and down movements because he could not get an erection.
He said Kotze told him to climb off. The same thing happened with the other two accused.
Afterwards, Kotze, using crude language, accused them of not having a problem raping someone, but of being useless when sex was arranged for them.
After ordering them out of the room, Kotze started screaming at Bonette that she had ruined his life and that he had given her everything she ever wanted.
Sithole's version was that he and the other two men fled the moment they realised the back door was open.
He believed Kotze had deliberately set them up so that he could contact the police and accuse them of robbing him.
Van Rooyen said it was Sithole's version that the police had severely assaulted him and broken his ribs, but that he had only co-operated with them and had pointed out Mohlane and Mphaka after Kotze's arrest.
The trial continues on Friday. - Sapa