Pretoria - A friend of Kilner Park ATM bombings suspect Sibusiso Moloi has confirmed his alibi regarding the early morning when the bombing took place and a Villieria Police Station cop died.
Moloi told the Pretoria High Court this week that he had been involved in a car accident on the morning of June 17, 2008.
Later that day, he went to the outpatients section of the Helen Joseph Hospital in Joburg to have his injuries attended to. He said he spent that night and the next day with his friend, Smangaliso Zolo, at Zolo’s Houghton home.
Two Absa ATM machines were blown up in the early hours of June 18, 2008, and Inspector Jaco Botha, one of the policemen who went to investigate the scene, died when an AK-47 bullet ricocheted from the bonnet of the police car and hit him in the throat.
Moloi’s thumbprint was discovered on a packet of cigarettes found on the floor of the Quick Shop at the Engen garage in Lynette Street, Kilner Park, after the bombers robbed it.
Moloi denies that he was ever at the filling station.
A shop attendant testified that the gang of robbers took, among other things, a quantity of packets of cigarettes, but dropped some of them on the floor in their haste to leave. The thumbprint is the only evidence linking Moloi to the scene of the crime.
He could not explain how it came to be there. He said he could not admit it was his print, but he also could not deny that it was his.
Zolo testified on Wednesday afternoon that at the time of the ATM bombing and robbery in Pretoria, Moloi was sound asleep next to him in bed.
He said he had gone to fetch his friend at the hospital late on the afternoon of June 17, 2008, and Moloi was in a sorry state. His face seemed to be swollen, he was tired and he limped so badly that Zolo had to help him to the car.
Zolo said they first went to the home of Moloi’s parents in Soweto, but Moloi’s mother scolded them so badly about their unruly behaviour, partying and drinking, that they left for his house.
He said when they got to his home, Moloi was so exhausted that he immediately went to bed. He remained at his house for the next two nights before he took him back to Soweto, Zolo said.
Moloi is the only person to stand trial in connection with the “mini war” that broke out that morning in the quiet suburb. It is understood that five other suspects were arrested, but none of them could be linked to the scene by evidence in the possession of the State.
Pretoria News