Temper tantrums by lion murder accused Mark Scott-Crossley during his trial in Phalaborwa Circuit Court should not be held against him in deliberations on the evidence presented during his trial, his counsel, Johann Engelbrecht SC, argued on Thursday. He said Scott-Crossley’s outbursts have to be excluded from deliberations.
When the murder trial of two men accused of throwing a fellow worker to lions resumes in the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Tuesday, the speaker of the Limpopo legislature will attend. Limpopo speaker Tshenuani Farisani and his office manager, Dick Ralushayi, will take their seats immediately behind the dock.
Mark Scott-Crossley masterminded the killing of farm-worker Nelson Chisale who was thrown to lions in January 2004 after being viciously assaulted, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Tuesday in closing argument by the state. His co-accused, however, was equally guilty of the murder because they acted with common purpose.
A biography of politician Patricia De Lille had ”devastating consequences” for three women whose identities and HIV positive status were disclosed in the book, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Friday. The women now lived in ”constant fear” of their family and communities finding out their status, advocate Daniel Berger, appearing for the Aids Law Project, told the court.
Criminal charges are being laid against Johannesburg metro police who embarked on an illegal strike about overtime pay last week, metro police chief Chris Ngcobo said on Tuesday. Ngcobo made the announcement after the Johannesburg Labour Court on Tuesday confirmed as valid an interim interdict declaring the strike illegal.
Truck drivers ended their six-day strike on Tuesday with the signing of a wage agreement. Supermarket shelves were without many product lines and some petrol stations in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal were out of fuel by the time the truck drivers’ sometimes violence-marred strike entered its sixth day on Tuesday.
A mark on the skull of lion victim Nelson Chisale was not caused by a panga but is a ”normal groove” for veins, a physical anthropologist told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Thursday. Chisale was viciously beaten with a panga before being fed to lions in an encampment at the Mokwalo White Lion Project on January 31 last year.
Nelson Chisale was dead before he was thrown to lions near Hoedspruit in January last year, a Bloemfontein pathologist told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Tuesday.
Dr Leon Wagner was testifying in defence of Mark Scott-Crossley (37), who is on trial for Chisale’s murder with Simon Mathebula (43). Both have pleaded not guilty of the killing.
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/ 24 February 2005
Attorneys for lion murder accused Mark Scott-Crossley may have to go into the witness box to explain whether they acted for his co-accused knowing there was a conflict of interest. Allegations against the attorneys, made earlier in the trial, also remain unchallenged, Judge George Maluleke said in the Phalaborwa High Court on Thursday.
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/ 23 February 2005
Hitting lion murder victim Nelson Chisale with pangas was not part of the job description of Richard Mathebula and Simon Mathebula, their former employer Mark Scott-Crossley told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Wednesday. Scott-Crossley and the Mathebulas are on trial for Chisale’s murder.