Nelspruit - Two men accused of beating a schoolboy to death appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Tuesday.
Magistrate Andre Geldenhuys postponed the case to February 3 following arguments for judgment, a Sapa correspondent reported.
Mfaniseni Sammy Kubhayi, 30, and Dumisani Sydwell Mashaba, 26, both from Mahushu near Hazyview, were arrested in February 2009 following the murder of Dominic Maminza, 16, from Bhekiswayo.
The court heard Maminza was kidnapped from his home in Bhekiswayo around 10am on February 10, 2009, after he was accused of stealing a bag belonging to Kubhayi's mother.
The youth was then tied up with ropes and assaulted with open hands and sjamboks by a mob and the two accused.
He was reported dead in hospital on February 17 due to injuries he sustained in the assault.
On Tuesday, Mashaba told the court that he was asked by Kubhayi to go with him to look for Maminza at his home on February 10.
“When the deceased saw us coming he approached us. We asked him to go with us to Kubhayi's mother's place as she was looking for him,” he said.
“On the way, a mob of about seven to eight men also came looking for him and accused him of stealing a cellphone from another person. Others held onto his legs and feet and lifted him up. They started assaulting him with two sjamboks.”
When he and Kubhayi realised the mob would hurt him, Kubhayi begged for mercy from an elderly person who was among them.
“Kubhayi asked them to stop. He told them he would tell his mother and she would buy the missing cellphone,” Mashaba said.
“The mob then stopped beating him and handed him back to us.”
Mashaba said the boy admitted to stealing the cellphone and that he was not hurt after the beating and they continued with him towards Kubhayi's mother's home.
“At the house, we left him with Kubhayi's mother, who was sick. We did not assault the deceased. He was fine when we left him,” he said.
“I then left with Kubhayi to our workplace at Pilgrim's Rest that same day. We only discovered about his passing on February 17.”
Sapa