Pietermaritzburg -
The man on trial for murdering Ian Fellows, a 74-year-old farmer in Underberg, intends changing his plea to guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court after he was implicated in evidence given by his brother on Monday.
On Tuesday, when the case was meant to resume, Mthokozisi Mtolo told his attorney that while in prison the night before, he decided to come clean after thinking about what his brother, Siyabonga, told the court.
The case was adjourned to Wednesday so that the attorney could prepare a guilty plea.
Mthokozisi is standing trial for murder and aggravated robbery.
Fellows lived in Lions River in the Midlands but was assisting as a farm manager at the Ringstead Farm in Underberg when he was shot on November 23 last year.
On Monday, Mthokozisi pleaded not guilty but confessed to being in possession of illegal firearms and ammunition.
He said in his plea that he was on his way home to Nkumba in Bulwer after visiting his girlfriend when he came across a vehicle that had been involved in an accident. He said he wanted to help the occupants, so he stopped. He saw the driver’s door was open but there was no one inside. There were laptops, firearms, a bicycle and other items in the car, which he decided to take.
When Siyabonga testified, he said his brother had told him that on his arrival at the farm in Underberg, the farmer was in the dairy and that he lay in wait for him.
He attacked “the white man” when he came into the dairy and pointed a gun at him, demanding money. The man gave him R100. He then tied the man’s hands behind his back with a piece of cloth and shot him when he tried to grab him
.
Siyabonga also told the court that Mthokozisi told him he had loaded the goods into a vehicle but on the way to Pietermaritzburg, he had crashed into a road sign.
The Mercury