Zimbabwean double-murder accused Blessing Bveni told the high court he bribed his way into SA twice before being arrested for an alleged crime spree in the Table Mountain National Park.
Bveni was testified in his defence – and explained how he got into the country without a passport – at the high court in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old has pleaded not guilty to counts of murder, attempted murder, assault, robberies and contraventions of the immigration act.
He is on trial for allegedly attacking and robbing 10 hikers in the park during 2018 and the bloody murders of pilot Doug Notten and cyclist Ian McPherson. Both men died after being stabbed in the park in February and March 2018. Notten was attacked while walking on a mountain path near Fish Hoek with his wife Julia, who escaped uninjured.
Several witnesses have implicated Bveni as their alleged attacker, but on Wednesday he denied the claims, suggesting his accusers were lying.
“It is alleged you attacked, robbed and murdered Doug Notten ... in the Silvermine National Park,” defence attorney Henk Carstens said in court. Then he asked: “Is this true?”
“No, they are lying. I have never seen them or even know where that place is,” Bveni testified. He added he did not know any of the witnesses who had testified against him earlier in the trial.
“I am not responsible for the attacks and murders of those people,” he told the court.
After two-and-a-half hours on the stand, Carstens said he had no further questions for Bveni. Then it was the turn of state prosecutor Christopher Burke to interrogate his version of events.
Burke highlighted the charges related to an allegedly fake Zimbabwean passport and temporary asylum permit that were found in his possession.
“I am surprised to find my picture on those documents,” said Bveni. “I have never applied for a passport in my life, and I never was documented to be in SA,” he said.
Judge Judith Cloete asked Bveni when he had arrived in SA.
I was so scared that they would kill me that I told them I had hid a knife on the beach near Fish Hoek.
He said his first visit to the country was in 2012. “I returned to Zimbabwe in 2014 and came back to SA in 2016," he said.
“But you had no passport. How did you enter SA?” asked the judge.
“I bribed an officer to get in both times.”
“Which border post?” asked the judge.
“Beitbridge, both times.”
Bveni claimed in his testimony that he had been assaulted by police after his arrest.
“The police kicked in the door of my house and pointed their guns at me. They arrested me and took me to jail.
“While I was arrested, the police assaulted me and threatened me. I was so scared that they would kill me that I told them I had hid a knife on the beach near Fish Hoek. They took me there and assaulted me again. There was no knife there because I was so scared I made it up, so they took me back to the cells.”
Bveni told the court on Wednesday that a friend, whom he named as Thulani, who lived in an informal settlement near Fish Hoek, may have known more about the murder of McPherson.
“Thulani called that morning of the murder saying he had a bicycle and cellphone for me to sell. It was my job to buy and resell items. I purchased those items from him. I then went to Masiphumelele and sold the items to vendors,” he told the court.
When police tracked McPherson’s bicycle and cellphone to vendors in Masiphumelele, they claimed to have purchased the items from Bveni.
Bveni ended testimony in his defence on Wednesday but, to the surprise of his legal representative, said he wanted his sister to testify as well.
The case was adjourned until October 26.
