OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 8.00pm.
STATE witnesses in the Bronkhorstspriut heist trail were offered cars, houses and salaries to testify, counsel for three of the accused suggested in the Pretoria high Court on Friday.
Fifteen men are have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attenmpted murder, robbery and car theft. The court heard during the week how some 30 men took part in the heist, which was meticulously planned and executed with military precision.
During cross-examination of Jarry Mashigo, an alleged accomplice in the R17,4-million heist who turned state witness, counsel Alan Coetzee asked whether Mashigo, like other witnesses, had been promised witness protection, indemnity, a salary, and a house or a car.
Coetzee asked Mashigo if he was aware that two other witnesses had been offered salaries if they testified, and that a house and a car were offered to another witness. Mashigo replied that he was not aware of other witnesses having been made such offers.
Mashigo replied that he did even know whether he was under arrest or not. He was first approached to testify by investigating officer Superintendent Ettienne Viljoen last Sunday, and had since not been allowed to go home.
He explained that he had first told Viljoen he knew nothing about the case. When told that one of the heist accomplices, Thabo Stimela, had told the police of his involvement, Mashigo decided to tell the truth.
“I was arrested on March 30 by Brixton police,” Mashigo said. “They asked me about Thabo. They said Thabo had told them everything, that’s why they arrested me. I made a statement the same day of my arrest and made a statement to a magistrate the next day. I was thereafter released.
“I told them I didn’t want to come to court. They said they knew about all of these things… They said I was there with the planning of the heist… and then I said it would be better if I told the truth,” Mashigo said.
The trial continues.