Four men accused of killing a man by dropping concrete blocks on his head pleaded not guilty to murder in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Thoban Dondashe (23), Lumko Kiti (25), Masibulele Mthetho (23) and Thando Msipha (19), of Extension Five, Grahamstown, all denied guilt. They allegedly killed Mzimkhule Nicholas Vuso (26), also of Extension Five, on June 4 last year.
Kiti is allegedly a member of the 28s prison gang, and the deceased was reputedly affiliated to the rival 26s.
The four suspects also pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and robbing Vuso.
Police found Vuso’s body inside the Dlepu football stadium in Extension Five on June 5 last year. The four were seen assaulting him the night before, the state contended.
Vuso’s death was attributed to ”numerous and massive injuries as a result of repeated blunt-force trauma to the head”.
All the accused said they would not offer the court a plea explanation, but denied they were present when Vuso was killed.
Public prosecutor Johan Conradie handed in photos of Vuso’s body. In these, at least six concrete blocks can be seen lying on the ground, near his head and chest.
State witness Nandipa Ndinise said she was in a local tavern on the evening of the murder, with one of her girlfriends.
”They asked us to go with them and they got beer and went to Kiti’s house. They went out and later came back with this gentleman [Vuso],” she testified. ”He [Vuso] was singing and I think he was very drunk. They were all talking in a tsotsi language, which I did not understand. Suddenly they began to assault the deceased with their fists and bottles.”
She said the four accused carried the unconscious man outside and went to the Dlepu stadium with him. When they returned, they had blood on their clothes and shoes.
”Kiti told me that they had killed that dog [Vuso],” Ndinise told the court.
The trial continues. — Sapa