Two of Bad Brad’s co-accused took the stand on Tuesday, reiterating that Aurora Mine security officers had not been hunting for illegal diggers when they entered the shaft.
Four illegal miners were shot dead last year, shortly after Bradford “Bad Brad” Wood, Nico Pretorius, Herbie Trouw, Willem Coetzer and Mickey Mazelem came across the miners.
The group are facing four charges of murder and four of attempted murder after the illegal miners were shot dead at the Benoni mine.
Wood, head of the mine’s security at the time, told the Delmas High Court on Monday he had led the team into the mine for a reconnaissance mission, despite claims by State witnesses that the group had been hunting for illegal miners.
Pretorius was first to take the stand on Tuesday, reiterating Wood’s sentiment that the group had met at the Ndlovu shaft to determine damage to the mine’s infrastructure.
He told the court he had been aware of only Wood being armed with a semi-automatic rifle and handgun at the time. Pretorius, as a security guard with the mine’s second security company, Delta Blue, was equipped with a JPX gun, which fires pepper spray.
His legal representative, Christo Meiring, has told the court that this gun could easily be mistaken for a handgun, which explained why State witnesses had said last week that Pretorius had also been armed.
One of the mine managers, Trouw, said it had been a joint decision by himself and a general manager to inspect the mine after they had heard reports of illegal miners invading the shaft.
“We went down there to check damage. There’s no way we would go down there just to run out illegal miners,” said Trouw.
After they had walked 4km, the group came to a steep incline. Hearing voices, Wood took the lead and made his way up the incline. A few moments later, when Wood reached the summit, the group heard gunshots, and eventually an aggressive call from the security head to help the team “get the f*** out of (there)”.
Trouw was the first of the group to mention passing three of the four miners killed during the incident, saying that when he had accompanied forensics personnel into the shaft a few days later, the bodies had been moved.
Two of the illegal miners, Norbert Mawine and James Sithole, have told the court that two of the guards had not only ignored Sithole after he sustained a gunshot to a leg, but had sworn at him in Afrikaans.
Trouw told the court he was not fluent in Afrikaans and at no point had anyone sworn at any wounded miners.
The trial continues. - The Star