Johannesburg - The State’s case against the man accused of killing toddler Cuburne van Wyk relied on assumptions and could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was guilty of the child’s murder.
This was the closing argument of Nathaniel “Chicken” Mpoku’s lawyer on Monday in his trial in the High Court sitting in Palm Ridge.
Mpoku is accused of kidnapping and murdering the 3-year-old. Cuburne disappeared from a football field in Ramaphosa informal settlement on August 6 last year.
He allegedly asked Mpoku for a biscuit and then followed him.
Three days later, his partially burnt body was found on an abandoned mine dump near Reiger Park.
“The State has the onus to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The State has failed to prove that the accused was the one who committed this murder,” Lumka Qoqo told the court.
“The State is relying on circumstantial evidence instead of direct evidence.”
Prosecutor Annemarie Smith said Mpoku should be found guilty. “The accused’s version should be rejected on the basis that his evidence is not probable.
“(Mpoku) gave the child another biscuit… knowing this is the way in which he can get the child to follow him, and this is exactly what happened.”
During his testimony last week, Mpoku said that when he noticed Cuburne following him, he had given him another biscuit before leaving him with a group of children who were playing with tins in the street.
But Smith argued that the investigating officer would have found witnesses to interview had that been the case.
During closing arguments, Judge George Maluleke made a number of comments.
He pointed out that there seemed to be an absence of motive for Mpoku to kidnap and murder Cuburne.
He also noted that there were no witnesses who had seen Mpoku in the days after Cuburne’s disappearance.
“All that (Mpoku) claims, there is nothing to support it. For two, three days his movements are unaccounted for, completely. The accused lived near that area. Why would the accused for the next two days go nowhere near that area?” he asked.
When court adjourned for lunch, Mpoku went on a tirade in Zulu before being led back to the holding cells.
It was not clear what he was angry about.