Durban - As armed robbers ransacked his home, taking everything from toilet rolls to a microwave oven, a Waterfall father lay on his bedroom floor fighting for his life.
Three days after the April 2013 robbery, Jacques Oosthuizen, 35, died in hospital as a result of a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
Simphiwe Sosibo and Mvuseni Mchunu are now on trial in the Durban High Court for his murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and housebreaking. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
The State, represented by advocate Khatija Esaack, alleges Oosthuizen was shot after he woke up during the robbery and confronted the robbers.
His wife, Samantha, daughter, Claudia, and son, Storm, were also at home during the robbery.
It is alleged the robbers spent about 45 minutes in the home and then loaded 25 stolen items including clothing, groceries, linen and a kitchen clock, into the family’s GWM bakkie and fled.
The bakkie was later recovered with some of the stolen items in it in Link Road, Hillcrest, and the State alleges that the vehicle had been abandoned after it stalled.
Oosthuizen’s wife and daughter, who was 15 at the time of the robbery, testified about their ordeal in court last Friday.
In her evidence, Samantha said they had moved from Newcastle to their Waterfall home and had been there for a month when the incident happened.
She said her husband pleaded with the men to let him go to hospital, but they said they had to leave first. Samantha said she asked the men to leave the keys for the family’s VW Golf so she could take Oosthuizen and they agreed.
The court heard on Monday that both mother and daughter identified Sosibo and another man, Dumisani Mbatha, during an identity parade in May 2013.
Charges against Mbatha were later withdrawn because of insufficient evidence.
In their evidence and statements, they said they had recognised Sosibo because he had been the caretaker on the property before they had moved in.
But the defence has disputed the identity parade evidence because at an earlier parade, they pointed out two men who were not linked to the crime.
On Monday, former police officer Edward Mzimyane testified that he had conducted the identity parade and both Samantha and Claudia pointed out Mbatha and then Sosibo.
Sosibo’s attorney Andile Nohiya questioned the lawfulness of the identity parade.
He said Sosibo claimed his right to have a lawyer present during the parade had not been properly explained to him by Mzimyane.
Mzimyane denied this, saying he had properly explained Sosibo’s rights in Zulu.
Oosthuizen’s death came in the midst of a crime wave in the Upper Highway area in which at least one other person, Rodney Bradley, was killed while he tried to fight off intruders at his Kloof home.
The trial continues.
The Mercury