/ 21 October 2008

Judge recounts details of Jeppe massacre

More details of the Jeppestown massacre were unveiled in the Johannesburg High Court on Monday as Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng recounted statements made by witnesses.

Mokgoatlheng spoke of how one of the witnesses, Kevin Choveaux, had hidden his wallet within a pile of tomatoes after witnessing a man with a rifle at a Pick n Pay supermarket in Honeydew.

”He said he was shopping at Pick n Pay with his mother when he heard what he thought was a gunshot. He didn’t take it seriously, until he saw a Pick n Pay employee fall on a pile of potatoes. He then saw somebody with a rifle and decided to hide his wallet in the tomatoes,” Mokgoatlheng told the court.

He said Choveaux was a credible witnesses before adjourning his judgement for a tea break.

Choveaux was one of the 41 witnesses who testified in a trial against the 13 accused in the Jeppestown massacre, which saw 12 people, including four police officers, killed.

All the accused have pleaded not guilty to charges ranging from murder and robbery to possession of unlicensed firearms.

Mokgoatlheng was expected to continue with his judgment after the tea break. — Sapa