Court told of carnage after gang funeral


It took less than 30 seconds for two alleged gangsters to mow down six people, killing two of them when they opened fire on a group of people gathered in the garage of a house in Schauderville after the funeral of a known gangster, the Port Elizabeth High Court learnt on Friday.CCTV footage from three cameras installed at different angles at the house in Dinsmore Road and shown in court shows two men entering Dinsmore Road from Lawler Street just after 9 pm on November 4, 2017.As the men enter Dinsmore Road, they are seen to open fire on the group of people gathered in the garage.Recordings from a camera installed inside the garage show approximately 12 people inside duck for cover and try to run away.Moments later one of the gunmen enters the garage and continues firing, with the second gunman momentarily entering before they both run off in the same direction they came from.Reagan Russell, 14, and Regan Fourie, 21, were shot dead while four other people were wounded.Bradley Berges, 23, of Schauderville and Given Cornelius, 27, of Booysens Park, alleged members of the Spotbouers gang, have been charged with two counts of murder and four of attempted murder. They have pleaded not guilty.The victims and wounded were part of a group who had gathered at the house after the funeral of Keith Bowkers, 32, an alleged member of the Dustlife gang, for an “after tears” function.A relative of Bowkers who was at the house on the night of the shooting and who is not being named as he is under witness protection, positively identified Berges as one of the alleged shooters while testifying in court on Friday.“I recognised [Berges] when he came out of the garage. He was wearing a black jersey and black cap,” the witness said.The 22-year-old man said he knew Berges because they had grown up in the same neighbourhood and he had seen him twice during the day leading up to the shooting.“I recognised [Berges’s] ‘run’. I know [Berges], we grew up in the same neighbourhood. I have known him for a long time,” the witness said.The witness and another man had, moments before the shooting, left the garage to go to the local shop up the road to buy flavoured tobacco for their hookah pipe.The witness said he was on the same side of the road as where the shooting took place but was a few metres away when he heard the gunshots.“I was on my way to the shop when I heard the shots – while hearing the shots I took cover.“When I started to take cover I saw where the shots were being fired from,” he said.The man said at first he had not recognised the shooters but had been able to identify Berges from his clothing.The case continues.

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