Durban — The Pinetown Magistrate’s Court heard how one of the three accused allegedly linked to a mass shooting in Savannah Park was gunned down in broad daylight in full view of about 18 people.
On Monday, two men charged with murder applied for bail.
Siphamandla Hadebe was allegedly gunned down by men who arrived at a house in Wyebank in a white Ford double cab with a police registration plate, suspected to be fake.
Hadebe, 24, Njabulo Mchunu, 31, and Comfort Ngubo, 22, were granted bail on Tuesday, August 16, and on August 21 Hadebe was allegedly gunned down.
Ngubo and Hadebe were granted R8 000 bail each while Mchunu’s was set at R10 000.
They are charged with possession of a firearm without a licence as well as ammunition.
The three were said to have been linked to the mass shooting in Savannah Park after the eThekwini mayor announced, at the time he visited the bereaved family, that three suspects allegedly linked to the shooting had been arrested.
On the day of the alleged shooting, gunmen opened fire at Siqhopholozi tuck shop in Savannah Park, killing tuck shop owner Bhekumuzi Mzobe, his nephews Siboniso Mzobe and Sanele Khenisa, as well as Phumlani Mpithimpithi, Sphamandla Shezi and Siyakudumisa Mtshengu.
A seventh person also died later in hospital. The two men charged with Hadebe’s murder will not be named for their safety; they intend on pleading not guilty with the defence that they have alibis adding that they did not know Hadebe.
The investigating officer Warrant Officer Jabulani Mtolo testified on Monday that four men allegedly opened fire directed at Hadebe and his brother, adding that one of them had allegedly been wearing a jacket with a SAPS emblem on it.
Mtolo, who is attached to the province’s organised crime unit, told the court that it was alleged that on August 21 on Dawn Crescent in Wyebank there had been a church gathering at a house where the sermon was held in the garage.
He said while some congregants were inside the garage and others in the yard of the fenced house they noticed an Etios slowly driving past.
“They noticed it had four occupants whose attention was fixed on the said house. After the car passed witnesses went out to check on it since it was suspicious. The car drove till it was out of view. After that, a white Ford Ranger double cab drove in at a high speed into the yard of the said house as the gate was open. When it was parked all doors were opened and four men got out.”
Mtolo said according to evidence, witnesses said they knew the four men, adding that the Ford Ranger was said to belong to the SAPS as its registration number plate ended with a B.
He said one of the men had been wearing a jacket with a police emblem.
“As they advanced the second applicant had a small firearm and the first applicant had a big gun and was among the four people who alighted from the Ford,” said Mtolo.
He said it was alleged that without saying anything the men opened fire on two men – Hadebe and his brother.
Mtolo alleged that as people ran for cover, Hadebe was hit and the men allegedly came over to “finish him off”.
He said a witness managed to jump over the fence to the neighbour’s yard. He also told the court that most of the bullets that hit Hadebe had been in his head.
“The intention was to kill him.”
The bail application continues.
Daily News