Lawyers representing a concert promoter accused of shooting dead Toufiq Joseph at a Cape Town petrol station say their client suspected the deceased of selling fake festival tickets.
This came out at the Cape Regional Court yesterday as a team of lawyers representing murder accused, David Forbes, battled with state prosecutors to have access to the deceased’s criminal record.
The defence believes the records will help prove Forbes was suspicious of Joseph.
Davids admitted to killing Toufiq at the Engen Garage in the CBD last year January but claimed it was in self-defence.
A bloody knife was found in the vehicle the victim was driving at the time.
It was revealed during Davids’ bail application last year that Joseph died while facing murder charges. No further particulars were provided to the court.
And yesterday Forbes’ lawyers told Magistrate Mbuso Msingaphantsi that not having these documents prejudices the accused.
Forbes’ lawyers said his and his family’s criminal records could prove that Joseph was possibly linked to a syndicate involved in selling fake tickets to music festivals that Forbes worked on.
But prosecutors argued against this saying it was not in the interest of justice to provide the defence with these documents.
Magistrate Msingaphantsi postponed the matter to November 1.