Padayachee said he had been in the process of finding a new place for them, explaining that they had previously been living together but had moved out after an attempted break-in and the expiry of their lease.
He appeared anxious and fidgety as he told the court of the safety concerns he had about the Govindsamy home. “I don’t think it was safe. It was a common thing where they would leave the kitchen gate locked, but not the door. Someone could easily reach in and grab the keys,” he said.
After Padayachee, maintenance supervisor Mohammed Aken Hoosen took the stand. He told the court that on the day of the murders, he had heard a single scream from a girl, coming from the direction of flat 29.
"I walked towards the flats and I heard one scream. It was a female child's voice. I didn’t go check because in our job we are not allowed to go into people’s flats," said Hoosen.
He added that while on his lunch break that day, he had seen a man matching Pillay's description entering the complex and walking in the direction of flat 29.
“I was at work at 10am and my guys were cleaning the complex. At 2pm was my lunch break and [while on lunch] I saw a guy with a blue baseball jacket and jeans walking past me. I saw him go between flats 30 and 29,” said Hoosen.
The matter is under way in the Durban high court, where Lt-Col Mohammed Fazal Rajak, the first to respond to the crime scene, is testifying.
'We argued, then I left': Phoenix man recalls last words with slain fiancée
Image: Jackie Clausen
The last conversation Macealin Padayachee had with his fiancée Denisha Govindsamy, just hours before she was murdered, was an argument.
Padayachee took the witness box on Wednesday, the third day of the murder trial of Collin Pillay. The tow-truck driver is charged with the murders of Denisha, 22, her sister Rackelle, 16, and their mother Jane at their complex in Phoenix, Durban, in 2018.
Pillay has pleaded not guilty.
Padayachee told the court that on the morning of the murders he had visited Denisha before he went to work.
“We sat and we spoke a bit. We had an argument because she was bitter about me having not found another place for us to move into. We argued, then I left for work,” said Padayachee.
Padayachee said he had been in the process of finding a new place for them, explaining that they had previously been living together but had moved out after an attempted break-in and the expiry of their lease.
He appeared anxious and fidgety as he told the court of the safety concerns he had about the Govindsamy home. “I don’t think it was safe. It was a common thing where they would leave the kitchen gate locked, but not the door. Someone could easily reach in and grab the keys,” he said.
After Padayachee, maintenance supervisor Mohammed Aken Hoosen took the stand. He told the court that on the day of the murders, he had heard a single scream from a girl, coming from the direction of flat 29.
"I walked towards the flats and I heard one scream. It was a female child's voice. I didn’t go check because in our job we are not allowed to go into people’s flats," said Hoosen.
He added that while on his lunch break that day, he had seen a man matching Pillay's description entering the complex and walking in the direction of flat 29.
“I was at work at 10am and my guys were cleaning the complex. At 2pm was my lunch break and [while on lunch] I saw a guy with a blue baseball jacket and jeans walking past me. I saw him go between flats 30 and 29,” said Hoosen.
The matter is under way in the Durban high court, where Lt-Col Mohammed Fazal Rajak, the first to respond to the crime scene, is testifying.
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