ANC Youth League leader's murder defence was an afterthought: prosecutor

11 November 2016 - 13:45 By Nomahlubi Jordaan

The version that former Johannesburg African National Congress Youth League leader Patrick Wisani tendered in his defence on charges that he killed his girlfriend is not “reasonably‚ possibly true”. That’s the position prosecutor Faghre Mohamed put forward on Friday during closing arguments in Wisani’s murder case in the Johannesburg High Court sitting at the Randburg Magistrate's Court.Wisani has pleaded not guilty to killing his girlfriend Nosipho Mandleleni‚ 24.“Mr Wisani had to find a version that distanced himself from the deceased‚” Mohamed told the court.He argued that Wisani knew that if he had told the court that he was sleeping next to Mandleleni‚ he would have had to explain why she had sustained the injuries to her body.Wisani’s evidence that he had slept on the couch on the night of the incident because his culture does not allow a man to sleep with a woman who is menstruating was made up after the fact‚ Mohamed argued.“His version is not reasonably‚ possibly true. It is an afterthought‚” the prosecutor said.It is the state’s case that on September 5‚ 2015‚ Wisani whipped Mandleleni to death with a sjambok and a broomstick inside the room they shared in Yeoville. Mandleleni died from excessive loss of blood and blunt force trauma.Wisani's R3000 bail was revoked after he allegedly assaulted Mandleleni's twin sister Siphokazi and her friend Zimbini Mathibe outside a club in Johannesburg on May 22 this year.He allegedly warned Siphokazi not to testify against him. – TMG Digital..

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.