The body double the police allegedly used to frame IT consultant Muzi Kunene of murder did a bad job, the high court in Bloemfontein said on Wednesday.
Judge MH Rampai was delivering judgement in the murder trial of Kunene of Ballito, Mumukeleni Khoza (26) and Mphakamiseni Khumalo (21), both of Msinga near Greytown. They are accused of kidnapping and murdering Ballito estate agent Lynne Hume in October 2007.
The State alleges Hume (47) was driven to a dirt road near Kestell in the eastern Free State and shot in the passenger seat of her white Volvo on October 23 2007. The vehicle was then set alight.
Part of Kunene’s defence was that the police, the presidency, his son and others had conspired to implicate him in the murder.
Kunene’s defence had tried to prove that the alleged conspiracy also involved the use of a former koevoet operative, Blessing Hamutenya, who had to undergo plastic surgery to make him look more like Kunene.
Koevoet was an apartheid-era specialised police unit employed to kill ”terrorists”.
On Wednesday Rampai said this ”fake man” missed out on several occasions to nail Kunene.
”He was reconstructed to be accused 1 [Kunene], but at crucial moments he did not do his contracted work. The fake man on several occasions stepped back and did not want to come out openly.”
Rampai said the court held the ”firm” view that various witnesses, who had apparently seen the double, had in fact seen the real man.
Kunene, Khoza and Khumalo were facing an additional charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances, as they allegedly used a weapon to rob Hume of her vehicle, three cheques, a bank card and R1 000 in cash.
They are further charged with fraud relating to R20 000 belonging to Hume, alternatively the charge is theft.
Kunene also faced a charge of fraud in relation to a cheque for R637 350 for three years’ rent of a flat in upmarket Simbithi Golf-Eco Estate at Salt Rock in KwaZulu-Natal.
The judgement continues. — Sapa