Durban - Driving school owner Bonginkosi Khanyile was aggressively assaulted and only pulled out his gun, shooting dead two brothers, after one told the other to go and fetch a firearm.
This is what is contained in a sworn statement a security guard gave police following the shooting of Mohamed Vawda, 25, and Ahmed Gora Vawda, 31, after a fight sparked by a dispute over a parking bay at a Margaret Mncadi Avenue (Victoria Embankment) block of flats, Kingsford, at the weekend.
Looking dazed, with pink eyes, bruises on his face and a cut on his lip, the 57-year-old accused said his glasses had been smashed in the alleged attack.
On Tuesday, when he made his first court appearance, he also showed Durban magistrate Vanitha Armu his T-shirt, torn from almost the top to the bottom which, in order to look respectable for court, he had covered with a collared shirt.
“This an unfortunate and regrettable incident,” his attorney Jacques Botha said. “But at best for the State, it will be a culpable homicide case.”
The charge sheet presently lists two counts of murder but prosecutor Herman Moutan and Investigating Officer Warrant Officer Jomo Govender both agreed that there were no grounds to oppose bail and keep Khanyile in jail.
Moutan described the security guard as an “independent witness” who said a row had broken out between Khanyile and one of the brothers over a parking bay.
“It turned into a fist fight and the accused was assaulted by one of them. The other brother joined in.
“The security guard said the accused was bleeding from his face and his glasses were broken. He tried to separate them but had no success and then one shouted to the other to fetch a firearm.
“As one of them walked away, three shots were fired,” the prosecutor said.
Botha, in his submission to the magistrate, said that Khanyile had handed himself over to the security guard, asking that he be locked in an office until the police arrived and, handed over a licensed firearm.
Khanyile does not live in the block of flats but has a holiday home there.
Botha failed to disclose his permanent home “for safety reasons” but said Khanyile would not go back to the flat pending his trial.
He asked the magistrate to take note of his client’s injuries, saying some had been caused by his having being kicked in the face.
He said his client did not want to elaborate on his version, only to say he had acted in “reasonable, justifiable self-defence”.
Magistrate Armu agreed that it was in the interests of justice to grant bail and set the amount at R20 000.
Mouton said police were still waiting for a post-mortem report, ballistic tests results and witness statements before they could proceed.
The matter was postponed to September 22.
Relatives of the Vawda brothers did not attend court on Tuesday. Ahmed was an accountant at a car spare parts shop and a rugby referee, while his older brother was an estate agent. They were tenants in the building and apparently there had been a previous altercation over the parking bay.
They were buried on Sunday.
The Mercury