Sentencing delay in Wandile Bozwana murder case

Sentencing of Mamelodi’s Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela and his co-accused for murdering multimillionaire businessman Wandile Bozwana hit a snag on Thursday when the defence told the court it needed to consult expert witnesses.

Mathibela’s legal representative, advocate Annelene van den Heever, told the Pretoria high court they intended to call a psychologist and social worker to testify in mitigation on his behalf.

She said they had been unable to consult with Mathibela at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility where he, Sipho Patrick Hudla, Matamela Robert Mutapa and Bonginkosi Paul Khumalo are being held.

The four were convicted on June 23 of murdering Bozwana and attempting to murder his business partner, Mpho Baloyi, on the Garsfontein off-ramp in Tshwane in October 2015.

“We intend to call for expert evidence in the matter. But our preparations have been impeded by not receiving the judgment of the matter, which we need to hand over to the experts,” said Van den Heever.

Their difficulties were due to the four being moved from the prison’s awaiting trial section to CMax on the day they were found guilty, she said.

“We could not consult properly because there were officers present during (our) consultation. This impeded our efforts because we cannot have psychologists and social workers consulting without confidentiality,” said Van den Heever.

Judge Papi Mosopa postponed the matter to September 21 and 23 to enable the consultations.

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