‘Coffin assault’ victim refuses to have his body inspected

The victim of what has come to be known as the “coffin assault” on Friday refused to have his body inspected for scars he sustained during the attack.

Testifying in the high court sitting in Middelburg‚ Mpumalanga‚ Victor Mlotshwa told the court he would be uncomfortable with having to strip for officials to view wounds he sustained.

“I have already undressed for the doctors before. I am not comfortable to undress again‚” Mlotshwa said.

He was under cross-examination by Org Basson‚ who represents Theo Jackson‚ one of two men accused of assaulting Mlotshwa.

According to Mlotshwa‚ farm workers Jackson and Willem Oosthuizen had beaten him with their fists‚ kicked him and hit him with a knobkerrie.

“But the doctor did not mention any of your scars‚” Basson put to Mlotshwa.

“All I know is that he was writing as he checked me‚” Mlotshwa replied.

He told the court that he did not mention to the doctor how he had been injured. He had not immediately seen a doctor but had gone several weeks later with the police‚ after he opened a case against the pair.

At the time‚ some of his wounds had healed but some scars still remained‚ he said.

Mlotshwa said he would not appreciate it if the defence lawyers were to consult the lawyer he initially consulted with when the legal processes began last year.

“Would you mind if we consulted to him in your presence?” Basson asked.

“I would mind‚” Mlotshwa responded. Basson said that as a lawyer with 40 years of experience‚ if someone consulted him about being assaulted in the manner in which Mlotshwa claimed‚ he would make a “big song and dance” about it.

He said he found Mlotshwa’s version of events improbable and that his client (Jackson) would deny ever assaulting the accused.

Mlotshwa’s version was that Jackson and Willem Oosthuizen had suddenly attacked him on August 17 last year as he waited to hitchhike to Middelburg to buy groceries for his mother.

The accused claimed that they had caught him in possession of stolen copper cables.

They put him in the coffin after he made threats that he would burn their crops and kill their wives and children if they took him to the police.

The pair maintained that they wanted to simply deter him from stealing again and wanted to ensure he would not carry out his threats.

Mlotshwa denied the theft.

He said his attackers had threatened to shoot him if he tried to run. They had further said they would place a snake in the coffin they had forced him into and had threatened to burn him in it.

Mlotshwa said he had fled after tilting the coffin. Asked whether he had not been afraid of being shot‚ he replied: “It would have been better if they had shot me than burying me alive.”

The two men were arrested after a video of them forcing Mlotshwa into a coffin went viral. They had taken the footage themselves‚ saying they had done so to ensure that they had evidence that they did no harm to Mlotshwa.

The matter continues.