Durban: A gardener, accused of killing a retired school principal, claims he was the victim and not the perpetrator.
Mzwakhe France Mbulawa, 45, who is on trial for killing Shirley James, of Newlands West, claimed that two men held him and the 79-year-old at gunpoint.
James's decomposing body was found in the garage of her Mallcastle Place home on August 12, 2019. Her hands were bound and there were assault wounds to her head.
It is alleged that James, who lived alone, died five days prior to the discovery. The cause of death, according to the post mortem, was manual strangulation complicated by blunt force head injury.
James's jewellery, cellular phones, household goods and commercial cards were stolen.
Mbulawa was arrested by Detective Sergeant Muhammed Basha, of Newlands East SAPS, after he was found with items belonging to the deceased. He was subsequently charged with murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Mbulawa's trial began in the Durban High Court on Wednesday. He is being represented by Legal Aid attorney, Patrick Mkumbuzi.
On Friday, he testified via an interpreter that while working at James's home on August 7, 2019, two armed men accosted him and his employer, whom he referred to as uGogo. He said he was a casual worker for James for three years and that he tended to her garden. Mbulawa said she was a good old lady and that he was fond of her.
On the day in question, Mbulawa said he arrived at James's home at 7am and began his duties. He said while working, a man exited a vehicle and approached him.
"The person asked where the owner of the house was, as he was delivering newspapers. I instructed the man to throw the newspaper inside the courtyard. The man came back and we had a chat, while I was doing my work."
At that point, he said another man approached him from behind, placed a gun to his head and asked him to take him into the house.
"He said to me 'Stand up. Let us go inside. We want the keys, we want the car and we want the money'. To my surprise, the guy who said he was from the newspaper began helping the guy who accosted me."
Mbulawa said he had the gate keys, which James entrusted to him.
"They said to me to call the deceased out. We opened the sliding door and I started calling her ... 'Mrs James, Mrs James' ... Mrs James responded as I called her.
“When she appeared, one of the assailants pointed a firearm at her and demanded money, car keys and the car. While doing that, he dragged her into the passage and into the room. The other guy forced me to lie down in the dining room."
Mbulawa said his head was covered with a black plastic bag.
"The guy kept standing near me. I then felt that items were being placed beside me. One of them was keys from the sound. At that time, I was crying and begging them not to kill us. They kept saying to me, 'Keep quiet. Don't cry. You have an attitude. We are going to kill you'."
He said he told the assailants not to hurt James and that they should take what they wanted.
"At that moment, I heard the footsteps of the one guy standing next to me ... he was moving away. I think they were running away. I jumped up and tore off the bag. I did not see anyone around. All I noticed next to me was a plastic bag with some items inside. I took the plastic with me and ran away with it."
He said he wanted to save the items for James and did not want the suspects to get the keys for the car or her property. Mbulawa said he took a bus home and went to sleep. When he woke up later that day, he said he tried to call James but the phone rang and went unanswered. He said he returned to her home the following day with the intention of returning the items.
"I knocked at the gate but no one responded. I sat next to the driveway. I left at about 10am with the items."
He said evidence before court – of a compact disc system and a gas cylinder – that he brought to his home, were given to him by James prior to the incident. Mbulawa said after several failed attempts to contact her, he took the items. They included her Lenovo tablet, flip phone, jewellery and bank cards.
"I made such a decision on the basis I myself did not have anything. Those items could as well be mine."
When he was cross-examined by Senior State Advocate Denardo Macdonald, Mbulawa changed his version several times. He said James gave him the tablet as a gift. He then backtracked and said she had asked him to repair it.
"Do you want the court to believe that an ex-principal entrusted her tablet, her means of communication, to her gardener to repair it?" Macdonald asked him.
The court heard in earlier evidence that Mbulawa sold the tablet and other items for R1 000.
Macdonald went on to question Mbulawa on why James would have entrusted him with her gate keys when she was obsessed with security. He then asked the accused why he failed to report the incident to the police.
The accused again presented a new version, that James called him while he was on the bus, and said that she was fine.
"Did you tell your counsel this whole new version? ... He would have told the court. It is a crucial piece of evidence. This is what you call a recent fabrication.”
During the State's case, the accused's stepdaughter, Thembelihle Ntanzi, testified. She said she went to town with Mbulawa where he sold the tablet together with the deceased's necklaces and bangles. The remaining watches, jewellery and James's flip phone, which were not sold, were handed over to police, she said.
Natacia Kaylan, James's niece, testified on how she tried contacting her aunt during the week but there was no response. She said they attended church together and frequently went out. The last time she saw James, she said, was on Sunday, August 4. They went to church and then to breakfast.
"On Wednesday, August 7, I sent a morning message at 8.25am and then asked her if she ate the cookies I bought for her, which I gave to her on Sunday. She did not respond. This was not her nature. I told her not to forget to wear black on Sunday because we were having a service for gender-based violence. She did not respond."
Kaylan said James communicated via her tablet and used her Nokia flip phone for calls. "The Nokia phone was her late husband's phone, so she wanted to use it and keep it. She would not have given the phone to anyone."
Both the State and defence were expected to close their arguments this week.
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