Cape Town - The former Ugandan child soldier accused of murdering Danish millionaire Preben Povlsen in Gordon’s Bay has disputed allegations that the murder was premeditated.
“One has to question why a person of my skill and experience would have created such a self-incriminating crime scene,” Francis Kimeze said during his closing arguments in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
Kimeze, 39, who represented himself in court, read from 10 pages of closing arguments.
While he admitted he had stabbed 71-year-old Povlsen to death on January 14, 2008, he denied he had planned the murder.
Kimeze tried his best to point out inconsistencies in the State’s case saying the police manipulated the case against him and his two sisters who are his co-accused.
Povlsen’s wife, Maria, 34 and her sister, Stella Sengendo, 43 have pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder and aggravated robbery.
Kimeze testified earlier in the trial that he killed Povlsen inside the garage of his Gordon’s Bay home, after drinking alcohol and smoking tik with a friend known only as Frank.
Povlsen was stabbed about 48 times and his partially brunt body was dumped in the bushes off Otto du Plessis Road in Bloubergstrand six days after his murder.
In denying that he planned the murder, Kimeze asked the court to consider: why he would look for bed sheets to wrap Povlsen’s body in; why he would borrow money from Sengendo to buy new carpets and why he would not have replaced them himself. Why would he allow Frank to choose the site to dump the body, and if he planned the murder he would not have committed it inside the house.
Prosecutor Mmatlhapi Tsheole argued the murder had been planned and covered up because new carpets were fitted and parts of the house were painted before Maria Povlsen told the police her husband was missing.
She said there had been no trace of blood in the garage and almost all traces of blood inside the house had been cleaned up.
According to the anti-nuptial contract Maria Povlsen stood to benefit from her husband’s R14m estate if he died but not if they were divorced.
Kimeze said he was sincere when he gave his version of events.
Judge Rosheni Allie is expected to give judgment on Monday.
Cape Argus