Pretoria - He claims he was invited by an acquaintance and some other men to a house in Elarduspark to steal some things.
But Thabiso Modiba ended up as a double murderer after one of his accomplices and a security guard who came to investigate were shot dead.
Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Judge Pierre Rabie dismissed Modiba’s claim that he was simply an innocent bystander while bullets were flying at the Waterkloof Junction security complex in the early hours of November 10 last year.
It was not known who shot whom, but the court held Modiba responsible for both deaths as the robbers carried guns knowing full well that someone may be hurt or even killed.
Barbara Gieros testified that she woke up in the early hours of the morning to find two masked men standing next to her bed.
They told her to be quiet before they ran out of the room. Her son phoned for help and the first people on the scene were security guards Neil Botha and Johannes van Niekerk.
Botha walked around the back of the house while Van Niekerk looked around the front. Botha said two masked robbers came running out the back door and he shouted at them that he was from a security company.
The pair ran back into the house and the next thing they fired at him. One of the bullets hit the wall next to him, closely missing his head but a chip of shrapnel injured his eye.
He then heard shots coming from the front of the house and when he got there, he saw Van Niekerk had been injured. He also saw two robbers on the ground - one was alive and the other was dead.
He gave Van Niekerk CPR until paramedics arrived, but he died on the scene. Modiba tried to hide his firearm by covering it with his foot, but the police discovered it.
Modiba explained to the court that he had no idea that the group was armed. He said he went along and was told to simply stand watch at the door of the house. He was issued with gloves and a balaclava.
He also tried to explain the layers of clothes he was wearing on that hot summer night, by saying he wanted to keep the chill out.
The court rejected his evidence and convicted him of two murders, armed robbery, attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. He will be sentenced on December 5.
Pretoria News