Durban - A security guard accused of murdering an Inkatha Freedom Party supporter told the Durban Regional Court on Monday that police refused to call his lawyer.
Skhumbuzo Nxumalo said he had wanted his lawyer present when police took his statement.
“Nobody read the statement back to me. I was not told that it was my right. They did not even give me the statement to read.”
Nxumalo, who was assigned to guard a National Freedom Party councillor, is accused of shooting dead Cebisile Shezi on October 6, 2012, near the Thembalihle railway station in KwaMashu, after IFP supporters converged on the councillor's home near the station. She was wearing an IFP T-shirt at the time.
Initially Nxumalo was charged along with five others, including Mgezeni “Bhungu” Gwala, the councillor he was assigned to protect.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa had addressed IFP supporters at a sports field in A-section KwaMashu earlier that day.
He did so in an attempt to reduce tension in the area after the abduction of IFP councillor Themba Xulu.
Xulu was out on bail after being arrested for allegedly trying to burn down Bhungu Gwala's house. Xulu's body was found the next day. He had been shot.
Nxumalo said on Monday that the first time he had access to his statement was when his lawyer Lungile Kheswa showed it to him at the start of the trial.
It was then that he discovered that there were inaccuracies in his statement.
The trial continues. -Sapa