Mduduzi Mnisi, accused of murdering 14-year-old Likhona Fose, is allegedly linked to the crime through the statement of only one witness, who allegedly last saw the child alive with him.
The investigating officer, Sgt Moses Semosa, testified on Wednesday at the Roodepoort magistrate's court that a witness told police that the witness saw Mnisi going into the house with the child on the day that she was last seen alive.
Semosa testified that when he started his investigation, he went to the family on Monday June 2.
After questioning the family, there was information that Mnisi was the last person seen with the child. “After questioning them [they said] there is information that the applicant before the court was seen with the deceased on May 31.
“The same week, I managed to get a witness who provided me with the statement regarding the information. He testified that the witness mentioned that on that day she saw the accused going into the house after 4pm.
“According to the witness, the two went inside. After a few minutes, the witness explained that the applicant went outside alone and came back again with two bunny chows and went back inside the house.
“After that the witness said she didn't know what happened there until the following day when they received the news of the body found in the veld,” he testified.
Semosa testified that the witness knew the accused very well.
Fose’s mutilated body was discovered at an open veld in Durban Deep, Roodepoort, on Sunday June 1.
He testified that the witness was on the street when she allegedly saw Mnisi with the child. He added that during the arrest, Mnisi said he didn't want to say anything and he would only talk in court.
He testified that Mnisi shouldn't be released on bail as the community wasn't happy about the incident. He told the court that when he arrived at the court, he found people with placards outside indicating that they opposed bail.
When asked if the community would take the law into their own hands if Mnisi was released, he said it could happen.
During cross-examination Semosa testified that he apprehended Mnisi and started to ask him questions but he failed to respond.
When Mnisi's lawyer, Khaeyo Kgokong, asked if Mnisi was being punished, the investigating officer testified that he wasn't punishing him.
Kgokong asked if there was any evidence linking Mnisi to the case apart from what was said in court during Mnisi's testimony. He said no.
“You are saying to the court that he is not safe. You placed the accused in this position,” said Kgokong.
The police officer replied that it was not true.
Earlier, Mnisi's girlfriend Pinky Gantso, 36, took the stand to back his alibi. She told the court she saw Mnisi on the day Fose went missing and even spent the night with him. She testified that on that Saturday she saw him when he left to buy food at Dobsonville for the children and returned between 11am and 12pm.
“I saw him and he left again,” she said. He then told her he was going to Daveyton. She said he came back in the evening around 7pm. “I know so because I am on chronic medication which I take at 7pm.
“When he came to my place, he remained outside. By that time the father of my child was there. Five minutes later, my baby daddy left and I called him to return. He spent the night there.”
She testified that he left on Sunday around 6pm, when he said he was going to see his mother. “He spent Saturday night with me. We were together the whole of Sunday. He left around 6pm to see his mother,” she said.
The matter was postponed to next Wednesday July 9, when the parole officer is due to testify.
TimesLIVE
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