Pretoria - The brother of murdered former world heavyweight boxing champion Corrie Sanders told the North Gauteng High Court how he identified one of their attackers during an identity parade.
Michael Sanders on Wednesday took the stand in the trial of Zimbabwean nationals Samuel Mabena, Chris Moyo and Paida Fish.
The three earlier pleaded not guilty to an array of charges, including murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and the unlawful possession of arms and ammunition.
Sanders, 46, was shot dead in a Brits restaurant in September 2012 while he, family and friends were celebrating his nephew’s 21st birthday. The celebrations turned into a nightmare when a gang of gun-wielding men entered Thatch Haven Country Lodge.
Sanders’s teenage daughter Martinique earlier testified how she and her father were talking to other family members near the boma, when three men stormed in and started shooting. They ordered the guests to lie down and demanded their handbags, cellphones and cash.
Martinique said she heard shots and her father was shot in the arm. It later emerged the bullet had penetrated his stomach. The boxing legend died the next day in hospital.
His brother Michael on Wednesday told the same tale of gun-wielding men who stormed the restaurant. He said his eye caught the men as they entered the restaurant and he saw they were armed.
They fired shots and shouted at the guests to lie on the ground and to hand over their valuables.
According to him, he had a good look at one man in particular, who reminded him of a man who had earlier worked for him.
Michael said he positively identified one of the accused – Moyo – during an ID parade and mistakenly identified another man in the line-up. He immediately realised his mistake when another man – which later proved to be accused No 1 – laughed.
The main trial on Wednesday proceeded after the court had conducted a lengthy trial-within-a-trial as the accused disputed the findings of the ID parade. Judge Ferdi Preller provisionally allowed the evidence in which some of them were identified.
Pretoria News