A man accused of killing 18-year-old Kyle Norris in an East Rand nightclub in 2006 pleaded self defence in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday.
”I had no intention of killing anyone,” Jonathan Street told Judge Nico Coetzee on Thursday afternoon.
He is charged with shooting and killing Norris in the early hours of November 19 in Edenvale in 2006.
Street testified that he had an altercation with bouncers at a restaurant in Bedfordview before going to the Max-X Sports Bar in Edenvale.
He said this ended in him firing two shots into the ground as he left the restaurant.
Street, his brother and two friends then went to the Max-X bar in Edenvale. Upon arriving at the Max-X bar he was ”surrounded by Asian women”.
”They were coming on to us. I picked one of the girls I liked and we went to the back room to spend some time with her,” he said.
Street said after he had enjoyed the ”company” with the ”lady”, he had a shower and went back to the bar to find his brother and friends.
”I paid R550 for the hour I had spent with the lady, we had a round of drinks and I told them it was late and I wanted to go.”
Street told the court that he left the club but returned when his brother and friends did not meet him outside.
Upon re-entering the club, he saw his brother and friends on the floor being ”kicked and hit” by a group of unknown men, Street testified.
He said was also hit in the face and caught in a headlock. His attackers held him up against a bar counter as he was being kicked.
”I took out my firearm and fired a warning shot into the ceiling then pulled my head out of the headlock,” Street told the court.
”When I looked up there were guys rushing towards me. I fired two shots to protect myself. I didn’t aim my gun at anyone or point it at anyone. It all happened so quickly.”
Street contended that key witness Graeme Mansfield lied when he said that Street held his gun towards him and said ”you fuck with me, you fuck with this”, before he fired shots.
”That is a lie, it happened so quickly, there was no time for talking,” he said.
Street said he had no choice but to use his firearm in self defence.
The state’s cross-examination of Street’s testimony will begin on Friday morning. – Sapa