Kimberley - A witness in the murder trial of Mzwandile Majozi, who is accused of stabbing a police officer to death, told the Northern Cape High Court on Thursday he suspected that the accused might have wanted to implicate him in the alleged crime.
Majozi is accused of killing an off-duty police officer, Lentswe Mogorosi, in Lerato Park in January this year.
He is also facing a charge of robbery after several personal items of the deceased were found in his possession.
The witness, Mannetjie Plaatjies, took the stand on Thursday for cross-examination following his testimony on Tuesday.
Plaatjies told the court that he and Majozi were friends and that Majozi had showed him the scene where the incident occurred.
According to Plaatjies, Majozi had told him that the knife he had used to stab Mogorosi broke but that he “luckily” had a another knife.
“There was a lot of blood where the accused and deceased had fought. I also saw a broken knife - the handle was tied with Sellotape.”
Plaatjies said that he had told the police about the incident as he suspected that Majozi might have planned to pin the matter on him.
“I was not sure what his intention was when he told me about it. I thought he might have wanted to drag me into the case with him. The reason I took the police to the scene was because I knew people had seem me going to the scene with the accused,” he said.
Another witness, David Oliphant, who was with Plaatjies on the morning after the incident, said that Plaatjies appeared disturbed by what Majozi had told him.
“Plaatjies came to my shack after he had gone with Majozi. He (Plaatjies) looked angry when he returned. I asked him what was wrong and he told me Majozi had told him that he had killed someone. After he told me, we just sat silently for a long period,” said Oliphant.
Majozi allegedly stabbed Mogorosi to death after they had returned from buying drugs at a house in Roodepan.
The police found Mogorosi’s cellphone, SAPS pocket book, shoes and wallet in Majozi’s possession after the incident. Majozi’s defence was that the items were given to him by the deceased.
The trial continues.