Durban - THE soldier on trial for the murder of his girlfriend’s sister claimed in the Durban High Court on Wednesday that someone else dressed in a soldier’s uniform with a state rifle resembling the one he was issued had shot at the police and his girlfriend’s sisters.
Rifleman Thembinkosi Ngcobo claimed the police had let the real perpetrator go free.
He testified that despite being at both crime scenes on January 31 after leaving his SANDF base in Upington with his R4 rifle on a mission to kill his girlfriend, Nontokozo Mbambo, he had never fired at anyone except for a single bullet. He said that one bullet was fired at his home when he tried to kill himself.
Ngcobo, 28, had during his two-day testimony told the court that it all started when he was told he was not the biological father of the couple’s baby boy.
He said he drove 12 hours to Durban from his base camp on a mission to kill Mbambo and himself because he believed she was cheating on him.
Mbambo’s sisters, Nokwanda and Nonduduzo, were shot at their homestead in Inanda on January 31, allegedly by Ngcobo, who demanded they tell him Mbambo’s whereabouts.
Nokwanda died on the scene, while Nonduduzo survived. She and her mother, Nomusa, were killed months later when they were attacked at their home by unknown gunmen.
There was a shoot-out between Ngcobo and the police on January 31 that left seven police officers and a community member injured later that day in Ntuzuma.
All the State witnesses, including a sworn statement from Nokwanda before she was killed, said the shooter wore a soldier’s uniform.
Ngcobo denied it was him, saying he was not wearing his SANDF uniform that day, at both crime scenes.
“I had changed my uniform for a black pair of jeans and a light blue T-shirt in my outside base accommodation before I left for Durban,” he said.
He further claimed that his firearm was tampered with to implicate him.
However, State advocate Krishen Shah dismissed Ngcobo’s claims as lies.
“So you say the witnesses who have told this court that the shooter wore a soldier’s uniform had colluded to implicate you in all these crimes? Are you saying that the police let the real perpetrator free?” asked Shah.
Ngcobo responded that he believed that was exactly what had happened, adding that the plot went as far as someone engraving on his firearm “Nonto, die”, his son’s name Siyanda, and his initials, surname and date of birth.
“I will put it to you, that you committed these crimes just like the witnesses have told this court,” said Shah. “The only difference between your version and that of the State’s case is that you were not wearing a soldier’s uniform and that you never shot at anyone.”
Shah alleged that Ngcobo arrived in Durban with six rounds of ammunition - two were fired at the Mbambo Inanda home, three during a shoot-out with the police and one live round of ammunition was taken with the rifle during his arrest.
Shah said this evidence was corroborated by the cartridges found at both crime scenes. Ngcobo denied this, saying the evidence was untrue, and insisted he had been issued with five rounds of ammunition at his base, fired only one shot when he tried to kill himself and had given four live rounds to the SANDF officials when he handed himself in two days later.
The trial continues.