A Diepsloot man told the Pretoria High Court on Monday how he was woken up by a shot in the early hours of the morning and found French priest Father Louis Blondel in a pool of blood in the bedroom of his parish.
Samuel Thobane, who lived at the parish at the time, took the stand in the trial of four youngsters accused of breaking into the church premises in December 2009. During the incident, the elderly Blondel was shot dead at point-blank range and Father Guido Bourgeois was attacked. Both priests were in their seventies.
The man who confessed to pulling the trigger, Nelson Malope, 19, earlier pleaded guilty to the murder and he was sentenced to an effective 18-year sentence.
His four co-accused appeared in court on Monday after they denied any wrongdoing. Jabu Ndebele, Freddy Mahlangu, Thembalethu Sindane and Kgaugelo Manzini pleaded not guilty to an array of charges, including murder and robbery. Two of the accused were 17 at the time the priest was killed, while the other two were 20.
Thobane, who stayed in a room in the parish, testified that he woke up to the sound of a gunshot. He jumped up and heard Bourgeois shouting. Thobane said he saw three men running away from the church and he walked towards the kitchen, where Bourgeois had locked himself in.
“On the way I noticed blood on the tiles… I went to the room of Father Blondel and I found him in a pool of blood behind the door.”
Thobane said they phoned the police. He could not identify any of the culprits as he only saw the back of their heads as they ran away.
Various items were taken from the parish, including a computer, a cellphone and R50 in cash.
A Diepsloot woman, Yoliswa Yeyani, testified that she was doing her washing at home when a man, whom she identified in court as Sindane, came to her and offered her a cellphone for sale at R100.
She said she did not ask him where he got the phone from, but she in any event bought it. The police arrived at her home a few days later and took the phone.
Sindane, through his lawyer, claimed that he sold the cellphone on behalf of one of his friends and that he received a commission for it.
Malope testified earlier that he and his friends broke into the parish that night as they wanted to steal a computer. He said he found Bourgeois in the bedroom and he told the sleepy priest that he needed a computer.
They went to the room where the priest said they would find the computer, but when they looked up, they saw Blondel standing in the door.
“I pointed my firearm at him and he walked towards me. I fired a shot. We took the computer and left,” he said.
Blondel, the court heard earlier, had spent 22 years of his life trying to uplift the poor. At the time of his death, he was establishing a programme to teach youngsters skills so they could get jobs. The programme never got off the ground after his death.
Proceeding - Pretoria News