Pretoria - Nearly seven years after billionaire businessman Wandile Bozwana died of multiple gunshot wounds after he was gunned down at the N1-Garsfontein offramp in Pretoria east, judgment started today in the trial of his four alleged hitmen.
Gauteng High Court, Pretoria Judge Papi Mosopo started summing-up the evidence delivered over the five-year period since the trial started.
Controversial Mamelodi businessman Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela and his three co-accused, Sipho Hudla, Matamela Robert Mutapa and Bonginkosi Paul Khumalo are facing a charge of murder following the assassination of Bozwana in 2015, as well as a charge of attempted murder after Bozwana’s lover, Mpho Baloyi, was wounded in the incident.
All four vehemently denied from the start that they were involved in the killing of Bozwana.
Judgment started today for Mamelodi businessman Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela and his three accused, Sipho Hudla, Matamela Robert Mutapa and Bonginkosi Paul Khumalo accused of murdering businessman Wandile Bozwana #Bozwana #Mathibela @IOL pic.twitter.com/XxsGLjSqZV
— Pretoria News (@pretorianews) June 22, 2022
Mathibela’s three co-accused each made a confession before the police, implicating him as the man who gave the order to kill Bozwana. The three have subsequently denied that they made the confessions voluntarily and said they were tortured and forced by the SAPS into confessing to something they knew nothing about.
The State is also relying on CCTV camera footage taken on the morning of October 2 2015 at Sandton Square where Bozwana and Baloyi were shopping and visiting a beauty salon.
According to the evidence presented on behalf of the prosecution, all four accused can be seen in the footage.
It is the state’s case that they were following Bozwana and Baloyi up until Bozwana was gunned down when the car, driven by Baloyi, stopped at a red traffic light at the Garsfontein offramp.
While the prosecution had called more than 60 witnesses over the years to testify on behalf of the state’s case, the accused, between them, called six witnesses. Both Hudla and Mutapa elected to call no witnesses to testify on their behalf. Mathibela called about three witnesses, who mostly testified about the fact that he frequented Sandton City because he loved nice and expensive clothes, so it was not odd that he was seen there on the day of Bozwana’s killing.
All four accused elected not to testify in their defence.
According to a confession made by Hudla, Mathibela pointed Bozwana out to them at Sandton City that morning and said he was to be killed.
According to Hudla, Mathibela met them at a garage in Alexandra after the shooting and gave them R60 000, which they shared amongst themselves.
Heavily armed officers from the SAPS Tactical Response Unit meanwhile kept a close eye on Mathibela in court and they rushed to follow him down to the holding cells when he at a stage asked for a recess to go to the bathroom.
It is not known whether the judge will be able to conclude his judgment today, as he was still busy summing up the state’s case at lunch time. Judge Mosopa, as he broke for lunch, joked that “we are going to be here for five days.”
Pretoria News