Weeks before the brutal murder of Glenwood guesthouse owner Jacqueline Needham, one of the four men charged with killing her had done electrical work at her property and later invoiced her.
This was testified at the Durban high court on Monday by Needham’s brother Oscar Swanlund who identified Bernard Langa from Mayville as the man who had done the electrical work.
Langa is charged alongside Mzotelwa Manelisi Jali, 24, Mdumiseni Gumede, 21, and Bruce Nomfemfe, 51.
They have pleaded not guilty to the murder.
Needham, 69, was robbed and murdered at her guest house in 2022. Her body was found by employees in a vacant room, wrapped in a sheet.
Swanlund said shortly after his sister’s demise, he had taken over the business for a period of 12 months.
“I found an invoice book with a cash payment that was made to B Langa, which was signed by my sister and Langa. The invoice had detailed three entries,” said Swanlund.
Swanlund said he did not know the four men sitting in the dock. He also recalled how, when he arrived on the crime scene on August 11 2022, he had found the house in disarray, with a chest of drawers wide open.
Swanlund said he had handed over the book to the police investigators. He said the extracts were dated June 18 2022 where Langa was charged for work on the distribution board for R800. On August 4 2022, Langa had invoiced Needham for R1,600, while another entry dated August 5 2021, reflected an invoice for R1,700. It was unclear why the latter entry recorded the year as 2021.
He said on August 11 2022, while still coming to terms with the grief of losing his sister, he had observed the cameras on a student hostel which was directly opposite his sister’s house. Hed then approached the security of the student residence for the footage.
“The footage depicts two gentlemen exiting the vehicle. They walk from there to the front gate of my sister’s house. One of them makes a phone call. They enter the house, and immediately they become out of view from the camera as the gate closes behind them,” said Swanlund.
He had also obtained video footage from Needham’s next door neighbour, only identified as Enhle, and Helen Thompson from Ferguson Road, while additional footage was sourced through the Glenwood urban improvement precinct.
The vehicle can be identified in Clark, Bulwer and Helen Joseph streets.
Swanlund also told the court that he last saw his sister on July 24 2022, when she visited their Ramsgate home, where she had stayed for the weekend. He admitted that he did not know the model of the car very well but recalled a striking feature of it.
“The left-hand tail [light] and the head [light] was not operating,” he said.
Under cross-examination by Jali’s attorney Wenzile Zama, Swanlund was asked if there was a New Bridge online booking system before his sister’s death.
“There was a Night Bridge booking system for online booking, there were phone bookings and walk-ins. Effectively, there are three means by which one could make a booking,” said Swanlund.
Zama also questioned whether Needham’s workers knew of the establishment having two safe storage facilities.
“I did not know but once I discovered the register I was told to keep them safe,” he said.
He said the list of missing items included an iPhone worth more than R20,000, handbags worth R2,000 and decoders. “The list was not compiled in one sitting but over time in consultation with my sister’s workers.”
Carlos Makhamu had worked for his sister part-time for more than 28 years while also working as a cashier at Southway Mall.
“I would say my sister was a very compassionate and loving person. I suppose it could be translated to that,” said Swanlund.
In response to assertions by Zama about a worker who did not return to work after his sister’s death, he said: “There was an employee called Sli whom I did not know well. She worked part-time at reception for a month or two after my sister’s death.”
Judge Khosi Hadebe adjourned the case to Tuesday.
TimesLIVE
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