The smashed windscreen of the Mercedes-Benz after being hit by a concrete slab allegedly hurled from the Candella Road Bridge on the N3, which killed a passenger in the car.
The lawyer of two of the |accused on trial for murdering a passenger in a car by throwing a slab of concrete off an overhead bridge on the N3 told the Durban Regional Court yesterday that it was the third accused, a 16-year-old boy, who committed the crime.
This emerged when defence lawyer Mohamed Hassim, who is representing Lucky Leon Khumalo and the 17-year-old, was cross-examining the State’s witness, Thandeka Faith Ngema, a Durban metro police constable.
Khumalo, 18, and the two minors, 16 and 17, are on trial for killing Siphesihle Zola Zuma, 24, on November 2, 2010. She was a passenger in a car driven by a colleague, Gertrude Mankaba.
The women were on the N3 when the vehicle’s windscreen was shattered by a concrete block thrown from a bridge. Zuma died in hospital the same evening from her injuries.
During the policewoman’s testimony, she said she saw two boys throwing stones, while Khumalo was standing with them, watching.
However, the youngest accused’s lawyer, Clive Muthwa, said the boy would testify that all three of them had been nowhere near the place where the crime was committed.
Ngema said: “I saw accused two [the 17-year-old] leaning against the bridge’s barrier and throwing a stone. It was becoming dark, but overhead lights and street lights made their faces visible. I shouted at them, and two [accused one and two] ran away, while |accused three [the 16-year-old] threw another stone before he also ran away,” said Ngema.
Ngema, who lives in the same area of Chesterville as the three accused, said she had known the boys since 2005.
“I was in my house when my neighbour, Navin Nagdutt, came to tell me that he had seen young men throwing stones on to the freeway. I went with him to his yard, where I saw this happening,” said Ngema.
She said she was standing inside Nagdutt’s property, a short distance from the bridge where the stones were thrown.
She and Nagdutt got into their cars and chased the boys. They were later joined by a taxi driver, Kandroyem Solomon, who was the first to testify yesterday. However, the teenagers disappeared into bush.
Hassim said Nagdutt had testified that he went to tell Ngema about the stone-throwing evidence and described what the accused were wearing.
“I want to put it to you that you never saw the accused throwing stones. You could only identify them through what Navin told you they were wearing,” said Hassim.
Hassim said his clients would testify that when Ngema saw them, the 16-year-old was throwing stones at his friends.
“They would also say that accused three [the 16-year-old] then lifted a concrete slab and threw it over the bridge,” Hassim said.
The trial was adjourned to October 17.
