OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday 9.30pm.
A KEY witness in the Bronkhorstspruit heist trial has described how he was shot three times by one of the robbers, and has identified the man who shot him.
Fifteen men are on trial in the Pretoria High Court for the daring heist, noted for the military precision with which it was carried out. All 15 have pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering two security guards, stealing R17,4-million from security transport company SBV Security, attempted murder, hijacking, car theft and illegal possession of weapons.
Gordon Kuhn, the assitant Pretoria Fire Chief, was on his way to Nelspruit when he drove past a cluster of vehicles parked in a V in the middle of the N1 highway. He did not realise what was going on, and thought it was an accident. But when he slowed down, a man in a parked bakkie suddenly stood up and started shooting.
“I immediately tried to get away,” Kuhn told the court. “When the first one started shooting, all hell broke loose. I could hear the different shots being fired. It was so clear, I’ll never forget it. As I moved past, I looked up at the person who was firing at me. I’ll never forget that face.”
Kuhn identified suspended Tokoza policeman Detective-Sergeant Nhlantla Reginald Ngobese, 36, as the man on the back of the bakkie who shot him.
Kuhn was shot in the hip and twice in the back. he told the court how, shocked and in pain, he desperately tried to get away in spite of his tires having been shot. He drove until his car “stopped”, ran across the highway and hid under a bridge for five minutes, then returned to his car. Because all the windows in his car had been shot out, he had glass in his eyes, shoes and clothes and couldn’t see. He finally rang for help on his cellphone and was rescued. He later underwent four operations.