Durban - Accused people appearing before the Durban High Court often used the alibi of “watching Generations” on television, a judge said on Wednesday.
Judge Shyam Gyanda was giving judgment in the double-murder trial of Scelo Meshack Matabane, 30, who had previously told the court that on the night John Noble, 72, and his wife of 50 years, Hester, 68, were killed, he had been at his mother’s house where he had had supper, watched Generations soap opera, and had then gone home.
His mother, Cecelia, was called to testify, but the judge said that her evidence had not helped her son “one little bit”.
She said that Matabane had indeed visited her – but five days after the double murder and the night before he was arrested.
Evidence that he had visited and watched the soap opera on the night in question – November 6, 2013 – was not forthcoming, the judge said, finding that Matabane’s evidence was unreliable and false.
Matabane and two co-accused, Siyabonga Innocent Xaba, 24, and Klulekani Wonderboy Mathonsi, 33, were all found guilty of all charges on Wednesday and will be sentenced today.
They had pleaded not guilty to murdering the Nobles at their smallholding in Shongweni. They also denied robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The couple ran a small engineering company from their double-storey home, and some of the trio’s haul included an angle grinder, drill, welding machine, chainsaw, electrical goods, jewellery, cash and their Honda Civic vehicle.
Noble was assaulted, bound and gagged and had wire and sticky tape around his mouth when found. The medical evidence was that he died from head injuries.
His wife, an emphysema patient who depended on oxygen, was found strangled with their own oxygen tubing.
The gang then ransacked their home.
The court heard that another man, Philani Shange, had been with the accused (charges against him were withdrawn earlier), and that both Shange and Matabane had worked for John Noble, but had been fired for theft.
The two were said to have hatched a plot to rob Noble and all four hid in a cave until just after midnight on November 7, when they made their move and hid in the Nobles’ garage.
Noble was attacked in the garage first, then his wife, who was upstairs in the bedroom.
Gyanda recalled that one witness, Sikhumbuzo Sithole, had been “steadfast” in his testimony that he had seen all three accused in Noble’s stolen vehicle.
Xaba was linked to the crime scene by DNA evidence from cigarette butts and a roll of bandage, and a witness told the court he had sold her a stolen watch for R20, the judge said.
DNA evidence also linked Mathonsi to the crime scene.
There was also evidence of his palm print on the stolen vehicle. Mathonsi was found with two rings that belonged to Hester Noble, one in his pocket, the other on his finger.
A police witness testified that Mathonsi had run away when he spotted a police van, dropping a bag containing the stolen angle grinder.
The judge said that Mathonsi had also confessed to a man in the cells that he got items when he and others had robbed and killed white people in Shongweni.
The evidence against him was overwhelming, the judge said.
Daily News