Gang-murder accused to learn fate on Monday

An alleged gangster  accused of murder, attempted murder and other offences is expected to learn his fate next week.

Closing arguments in the case against Walter Williams, 22, were heard in Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday.

It is alleged that Williams, of Helenvale,  is a member of the New Time Bozzas gang, but  he insists he had no gang affiliation before his arrest.

However, Williams, who has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, claimed that after his arrest and  incarceration at the St Albans Correctional Facility he had joined the 26 gang for his own protection.

Williams is accused of attempting to kill a state witness and injuring two passers-by, aged 13 and 16 at the time, during a shooting on December 9 2018.

It is alleged that the next day, Williams shot and killed alleged gang informant Richard Marius Stuurman at a house in Kobus Street, Helenvale.

Williams testified this week that at the time of the shootings he worked as a hawker and was selling fruit and vegetables in the Greenacres area.

During closing arguments on Thursday, state prosecutor advocate Rafiq Ahmed pointed out that, at the time of his arrest in January 2019 and twice thereafter, Williams had told detectives he was unemployed.

Ahmed said Williams, who pleaded not guilty to 10 charges, including one of murder, three of attempted murder and contravening the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, was a poor witness and his evidence was so contradictory that the court should not believe a word he said.

“During his testimony [Williams] adapted his version. [He] did his utmost best to deceive this court,” Ahmed said.

A witness to Stuurman’s murder, who is not being named because she is under witness protection, had testified that she saw Williams enter the Kobus Street house between 4am and 5am on December 10 2018, where she and a group of friends were playing cards.

According to the witness, after Williams consumed a glass of cold drink he stood up, apologised to the homeowner and pulled out a gun, pointed it at Stuurman and fired a shot at his head.

Stuurman died at the scene.

In the earlier incident, Williams’ alleged target, a state witness in the case against convicted gangster Maxwell Muller, said he had seen Williams approaching him and, knowing he was a target, ran away before Williams opened fire on him, injuring the two teenagers in the process.

Muller was found by the court to be a member of the New Time Bozzas gang when he was convicted of murder in October.

Williams’s defence counsel, advocate Jodine Coertzen, said though the witnesses from both the Kobus Street shooting and the earlier incident were unreliable and lacked credibility, her own client was also a poor witness.

“I am not going to deny that [Williams] was a poor witness,” Coertzen said.

She said the state had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Williams was the shooter in the two incidents.

Acting judge Sureshni Moodliar is expected to hand down judgment on Monday.