All these whites look the same to me: marine killing witness

15 September 2014 - 14:55 By Sapa
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DOCK OF THE BAY: Durban brothers Blayne and Kyle Shepard, Andries van der Merwe and Dustin van Wyk stand trial for the murder of former Royal Marine Brett Williams. They allegedly beat Williams to death after a Super 15 rugby match at Kings Park Stadium last year
DOCK OF THE BAY: Durban brothers Blayne and Kyle Shepard, Andries van der Merwe and Dustin van Wyk stand trial for the murder of former Royal Marine Brett Williams. They allegedly beat Williams to death after a Super 15 rugby match at Kings Park Stadium last year
Image: THULI DLAMINI

A security guard who could not identify any of the four people accused of beating a former Royal Marine to death admitted in the Durban Regional Court that all white people look the same to him.

Baoto Ifomba made the admission when questioned by magistrate Trevor Levitt, presiding in the trial of four people accused of killing Brett Williams to death on the night of March 23 following a Super 15 rugby match at Durban's Kings Park Stadium.

Ifomba was asked under cross-examination whether Dustin van Wyk was one of the men who attacked Williams.

At that point Levitt intervened, asking: "Are all white people the same to you?"

Ifomba replied: "Yes. I see them alike, but I can differentiate between them by the colour of their hair. In this case I can be helped by the colour of their hair and their clothing."

Van Wyk, Blayne Shepard, 23, his brother Kyle, 25, and Andries van der Merwe, 23, each face a charge of murder, three of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and one of crimen injuria.

On Friday, Ifomba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, testified that when he and other security guards tried to separate Williams and his attackers, one of them threatened them and called them "kaffirs".

Ifomba worked for Fidelity Security Guards on the night of the fatal attack.

The trial continues

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