Questions about how long a state witness had known some of the six alleged gangsters standing trial on a string of charges ranging from murder to arson raised eyebrows in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Wednesday.
The men’s lawyers claimed they had been in custody during the time the witness allegedly met them.
Under cross-examination, state witness Rolene Campher claimed she had known two of the accused, Damian Kammies, 24, and Deilon Makoppa, 32, for two years before the November 19 2016 double murder which the men are charged with.
“I saw [Kammies] in the company of [Makoppa] many times,” Campher said.
She claimed she had regularly seen the two men when walking to her boyfriend, Neville “China” Plaatjies’, shop and had been in their company several times when Plaatjies sold stolen items to either of the men.
Advocate Deon Erasmus for Makoppa put it to Campher that his client had been in custody between 2011 and October 2016 and Kammies had been in custody at various times between December 2015 and November 11 2016.
Erasmus said, as a result, the two men had been out of custody at the same time for only nine days in total.
“That you had seen them together many times is not true,” Erasmus said.
In response, Campher said: “Of course I had seen them because [Plaatjies] had sold them stolen goods every day.”
Kammies and Makoppa along with Warren “Wakka” Steyn, 25, Christiano “Twakkie” Whitebooi, 20, Kurt Bosman, 30, and Ashton Calvert, 26, face a string of charges, including two counts of murder, two of kidnapping, attempted murder and three charges of arson.
They all pleaded not guilty to a total of 15 charges.
Plaatjies, of Riverside Valley, previously testified that early on November 19 2016 he and an acquaintance, identified only as Austin, went to buy alcohol, mandrax and dagga at a house in Schauderville.
There, two of the men on trial – Steyn and Whitebooi – allegedly pointed firearms at him.
He then tried to grab a pistol from Whitebooi, but it fell to the ground.
After picking up the pistol and allegedly firing a warning shot, the men, including Austin, ran away.
Plaatjies then went to his home in Riverside Valley where he found his girlfriend, Campher, and Austin hiding under a bed.
The trio then decided to go to the home of Mohammed “Mielie” Gamieldien Abdullah.
On their way there, a man identified as Lucian told them Abdullah had been kidnapped.
Abdullah was later found dead in the road near the Malabar cemetery.
On the same day and while in pursuit of Plaatjies, the men allegedly went to the house of Deon Mathys.
The indictment says when Mathys was unable to assist them he was murdered.
When they returned to Plaatjies’ shack, they noticed a white Corsa bakkie parked near the shack with one of the men standing nearby holding a five-litre can. A few minutes later they saw smoke billowing from the structure.
Seventeen other properties were damaged in the blaze.
On Wednesday, Campher said that after the initial warning shot incident earlier that day, Austin had arrived at the shack in Riverside Valley in a state of shock.
He allegedly relayed to Campher the events involving Plaatjies and told her people were looking for him and Plaatjies.
Campher then allegedly instructed him to hide under her bed after they heard someone shouting and crying outside.
“I heard the door opening and I stayed sitting there because I wanted to see who it was.”
Campher had identified five of the men accused in a photo ID parade except for Makoppa.
Asked why she did not identify him, she said he looked different in the photo from how she saw him on the day of the incident and how he looked in court.
All six men have denied ever meeting Campher and claimed, through their various legal representatives, that the only time they had seen her was in court.