Johannesburg - Petrus Durant, the security guard on trial for killing a farmworker at Tarlton, near Krugersdorp, early last year, hopes that the court will rule that his decision to fire the fatal shot was justifiable.
Masotsha Aaron Mutavhatsindi, 43, died near the informal settlement in which he resided after being shot in the head by Durant.
The murder-accused Durant, 47, was chasing Mutavhatsindi while he drove a tractor he used for his duties at the farm.
Mutavhatsindi was accused of taking the tractor without the permission of the farm owner that fateful Saturday morning, January 6, last year.
Photos of a dead Mutavhatsindi slouched in the driver’s seat of the tractor were circulated after the killing.
The killing angered many in the informal community, with some labelling it a racist attack.
Durant’s defence conceded that it was common cause that he shot and killed the deceased, but sought to convince the court that the action was necessary.
His defence was that Mutavhat-sindi was running amok with the tractor and was endangering the lives of people in his informal settlement.
Hendrick Pretorius, the second last witness Durant’s lawyer led on Wednesday, testified that the accused told him at the crime scene his actions were necessary.
“He said to me that he saw the tractor hit a young girl,” said Pretorius, who managed the farm at which Mutavhatsindi worked.
“(He said) it damaged the fence of a house. He went through a funeral procession and he was on his way to another funeral procession.
“He also told me that he tried to shoot out the tyres of the tractor (which did not help).
“He took a decision that before this guy injures other people, he had to stop him,” said Pretorius.
Pretorius also testified that Mutavhatsindi’s cousin told him that the tractor hit his Toyota Corolla before the shooting.
He said the cousin told him Durant tried everything in his power to stop the rampaging tractor.
Pretorius said Mutavhatsindi had absconded from work for days before the incident that lead to his killing.
He returned some three days before his killing and attempted to take the tractor after work hours, Pretorius said.
“The deceased was not in his full mind,” said Pretorius. “He was aggressive, he was shouting and demanding that I should open the gate so he could take the tractor.”
Some of the submissions deposed by Pretorius have already been challenged by the State in the trial.
Prosecutor Carla Britz previously challenged the claims that the tractor hit a child. There were no reports of a child being knocked down by Mutavhatsindi, she said.
Also disputed were claims that Mutavhatsindi rammed into his cousin’s Corolla. The tractor had apparently hit the car after Mutavhatsindi was shot.
The State wanted Durant found guilty of murder and two accompanying charges. These are unlawful possession of a firearm and pointing of a firearm. Durant’s firearm licence had expired in 2014.
The State and defence will depose their closing arguments when the trial continues later this month.