Phalaborwa

The family of jailed murderer Mark Scott-Crossley say they have ”substantial ammunition” to justify the granting of leave to appeal his conviction and life imprisonment for the killing of farm worker Nelson Chisale. His brother said the family have concerns about a number of procedural irregularities during the trial.

There were gasps in the public gallery as Mark Scott-Crossley, one of the men who threw farmworker Nelson Chisale to lions at Hoedspruit in January last year, was sentenced on Friday to life imprisonment. His co-accused, Simon Mathebula, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, three of them suspended for five years.

Convicted killer Mark Scott-Crossley was married in the Phalaborwa Magistrate’s Court on Friday ahead of his sentencing for the murder of farmworker Nelson Chisale. Meanwhile, the community of Phalaborwa wants for life sentences for Chisale’s killers, people said as they crowded the doors of the circuit court.

Mark Scott-Crossley, who threw a man to lions to die, was not a bad person, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Thursday. ”He [Scott-Crossley] has got good attributes,” his counsel Johann Engelbrecht SC told Justice George Maluleke.

A witness to an alleged assault on farmworker Nelson Chisale, who was fed to lions, will be called back to the stand in the lion murder trial in the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Thursday to be cross-examined on his evidence by counsel for his former employer, Mark Scott-Crossley.

The community of Acornhoek has evicted the family of Simon Mathebula, who was found guilty in April of killing farm worker Nelson Chisale, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Wednesday. Mathebula was convicted in April of acting in concert with Mark Scott-Crossley in committing the premeditated murder of Chisale, who was thrown to lions.

Phalaborwa Circuit Court state prosecutor Ivy Thenga will give reasons on Friday why the killers of Nelson Chisale, who was fed to lions, deserve heavy sentences. This follows two days of evidence in mitigation of sentence by the defence for Mark Scott-Crossley and Simon Mathebula.

The media have concentrated on his bad deeds but ignored his good actions, convicted murderer Mark Scott-Crossley told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Thursday. Reporters at the court have seen a man ”who now and again reacted irresponsibly”, he said in evidence in mitigation of sentence.

He has been found guilty of a crime he did not commit, Simon Mathebula told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Wednesday during deliberations on the sentence he should receive for tossing farmworker Nelson Chisale to lions in Hoedspruit last year. ”I did not even see the corpse … of the deceased,” Mathebula said.

Mark Scott-Crossley has a previous conviction for theft, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Tuesday while considering his sentence for throwing farmworker Nelson Chisale to lions last year. Accomplice Simon Mathebula has a clean record, prosecutor Ivy Thenga told the court.

”Lion Man” Nelson Chisale’s killers were convicted of his murder on Thursday, more than a year and three months after he was viciously beaten with pangas and then fed to lions at the Mokwalo White Lion Project, near Hoedspruit. Mark Scott-Crossley (37) and Simon Mathebula (41) were each found guilty on a charge of murder.

Bomb-disposal experts swept a Phalaborwa courtroom for incendiary devices, the front row of the public gallery was cleared to make way for a line of police crowd-control officers, and parking outside the court was cordoned off in preparation for judgement in the lion murder trial of Mark Scott-Crossley and Simon Mathebula on Thursday.

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.

A police officer tricked two farmworkers into revealing all they knew about the murder of a fellow worker, who was fed to lions after being assaulted, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Wednesday, the second day of closing arguments by the state and defence.

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.

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.

Why was a ”tasty morsel” such as a finger left intact by the lions that attacked Nelson Chisale, a pathologist asked in the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Wednesday. The pathologist is testifying in defence of Mark Scott-Crossley, who is accused with Simon Mathebula of murdering Chisale, who was viciously assaulted before being fed to lions.

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.

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.

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.

Lion murder accused Simon Mathebula (43) told the Phalaborwa Circuit Court on Tuesday that he knew it was wrong to hold a man against his will. He said he was just carrying out orders when he helped tie up Nelson Chisale with an electrical extension cord.

Nelson Chisale closed his eyes and prayed before being thrown to lions, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Monday. The defence opened its case on Monday with the evidence of one of his alleged killers, Simon Mathebula (43). Simon said he watched his employer, Mark Scott-Crossley, walk up to Chisale and kick him.

Still feeling too sick to go on with his trial, lion murder accused Richard ”Doctor” Mathebula (41) on Friday asked the Phalaborwa Circuit Court for time to recover from the chest pains that have plagued him this week. ”This morning, I tried to consult with my client. He was not in a position to give me proper instructions,” said Mathebula’s counsel, Mathews Kekana.

Defence counsel for three men accused of feeding a man to lions in Hoedspruit last year had to delay presenting their case on Thursday after one of the accused fell ill. ”Accused number one tells me he’s suffering from chest and throat pains,” Mathews Kekana, counsel for Richard ”Doctor” Mathebula, said outside the Phalaborwa Circuit Court.

A ”no-name brand” air gun was indeed the weapon pointed at her from the tree that murder victim Nelson Chisale was tied to in January this year, a domestic worker testified on Wednesday. She was giving evidence in the trial of three men accused of feeding Chisale to lions after assaulting him on a Limpopo farm.

A pathologist could not tell from Nelson Chisale’s broken bones whether he was dead or alive when thrown into a lions’ den in January 2004, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Tuesday. ”There was no flesh on the bones at all,” Dr Donald Mabunda told the court.

A police officer had to cut the skin off a finger found in a lions’ den in Hoedspruit in order to get a fingerprint, the Phalaborwa Circuit Court heard on Monday. The court is trying three men accused of murdering Nelson Chisale by feeding him to lions in January 2004.