Visibly irritated by this mode of questioning‚ state prosecutor Advocate Adele Janse van Vuuren‚ shot up and objected to Cronje’s interjecting her witness before she could finish her answer.
Presiding judge Tshifhiwa Maumela intervened and pleaded for calm‚ saying “we need to remain calm and‚ as officers of the court‚ maintain the decorum. I do not have to teach you that.”
The judge also turned to Mavula's widow‚ who occasionally threw her hands up in irritation‚ and explained that as much as the matter was difficult for her‚ she should at all times remain calm and answer questions directly so that the court could hear all the evidence.
On that fateful evening‚ the deceased went out with his two teenage sons to look for a missing goat.
His widow has testified in her evidence in chief that moments later her daughter received a call from her father who said “the white people are killing me”.
She has testified that she drove out along Havana road and‚ as she turned into Masakhe road‚ she noticed her husband’s bakkie parked by the side of the road‚ a dead goat nearby and the body of her husband sprawled metres away.
The father and son duo‚ out on R500 bail each‚ have pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.
The defence’s case is that the two were on their way home when they found men with carcasses of two dead animals. They then confronted Mavula and asked who owned the animals but a fight broke out between them and Mavula.
The two claimed they fled after the tussle. The post-mortem states the cause of death as "blunt force‚ multiple injuries".
Mavula’s son‚ who was 12 at the time‚ is set to take the stand on Wednesday. His testimony will be held in camera. The case continues on Tuesday.
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