Durban - Double murder accused Rameez Patel was unable to explain why the jacket he wore, on the day his wife was killed, was moved.
Patel was testifying in the Limpopo High Court, in Polokwane, where he is on trial for the murder of his 28-year-old wife Fatima, the mother of his three children.
She was shot in the face, while in their rented Nirvana apartment, in Polokwane, in April 2015. Her skull and cheekbones were shattered as a result. She was also strangled and her jaw had dislocated.
Patel, a cage fighter-cum businessman, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. He blamed the murder on an intruder, who he said entered their home.
His jacket and other clothing items that he wore on the day of the killing were raised in court.
During his brother Razeen Patel's evidence, it emerged that Patel had changed his clothing. Razeen said he believed his brother also took a shower, as his hair was wet.
Razeen testified that Patel had confessed to him that he killed Fatima. He said he then followed Patel to his home in Nirvana, where they found his sister-in-law. Shortly after giving evidence, Razeen was shot and hospitalised.
The state questioned Patel on why he did not hand in his clothing as evidence to the police. NPA spokesperson in Limpopo Mashudu Malabi Dzhangi said during his evidence, Patel said he did not give his jacket to the police because they did not ask for it.
"Patel could not explain to the court the movement of his clothes that he was wearing during the incident, as clothes were left at his uncle's house, then moved to his home, and later brought back to his uncle. The police were given the clothes without the jacket and were later given a wet jacket."
A baseball bat, believed to have been used in the killing, was found in the ceiling. Patel said the baseball bat was not hidden and that he kept sports equipment there.
Dzhangi said Patel was still under cross-examination by the State.
The trial was, however, adjourned until July, as Judge Joseph Raulinga had to question three registrars who did not transcribe court recordings, even though he made a ruling for it in 2019. This was after he found that his notes were tampered with and a court statement was missing.
Patel is also accused of killing his mother Mahejeen Banu Patel, 51. She was shot in her home in Nirvana, in September 2017. The trial is expected to start later this year. Patel was out on R250 000 bail for his wife's killing, when he was arrested for his mother's death.
His father Feroz Patel, 54, was shot and killed in what was believed to be a botched robbery. Yunus Mayet, the father of Patel's second wife (Fatima was the first wife), was kidnapped and killed in September 2018.
Patel, known by some as Lala in the Polokwane community, ran Prime Wholesalers, which he co-owned with his late father.
The Post