Bodies of two men found in Rhodes Park dam weren’t tied‚ says police diver

28 October 2016 - 18:22 By Lindile Sifile

Even if the two men murdered at Rhodes Park in Johannesburg had been good swimmers‚ they would not have survived‚ said the police diver who retrieved the bodies from the dam. Sizwe Tyeke and Zukisa Kela were killed by a group of about 10 men at Kensington's Rhodes Park in October 2015. Their wives were raped by the attackers. Diver Maria Pollock today told the South Gauteng High Court that Tyeke and Kela’s hands were not tied behind their backs before they were forced into the water‚ contradicting previous claims.Using a drawing of the dam‚ Pollock said the search took about two hours. Tyela’s body was found at about 10:45pm‚ followed by Kela eight minutes later. The bodies were about 10m from the dam's edge and at about 3m in the deeper end of the dam.Pollock said Kela was wearing a shirt and underwear and a jersey was wrapped around his waist‚ Tyeke was wearing a shirt and their hands were free.“There were lots of rocks‚ bottles‚ debris in the water and we even found a duvet. Some areas were shallow but there was one that had a sudden dip‚ which is where I found them.”She said the water was murky and visibility was zero.“Even if the two gentlemen could swim‚ they wouldn't have survived in there because of unfavourable conditions‚ such as the poor visibility‚” Pollock said.Trial will resume on 7 November...

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