Africa-Press – South-Africa. A video showing the moments before the assassination of Cape Town advocate Pete Mihalik was played in a hushed Western Cape High Court on Thursday.
After some delays due to problems setting up a TV, Warrant Officer Werner Höll was sworn in to testify in his capacity as an IT expert who attends crime scenes to collect footage.
He was called out to the crime scene on 30 October 2018 to obtain footage from CCTV cameras near the intersection of Thornhill and Cavalcade roads in Sea Point.
His first stop was B.I.G. Backpackers in Thornhill Road, less than two hours after Mihalik was killed.
It had cameras looking at the street and these “silent witnesses” captured footage of a neatly dressed man wearing a checked long sleeved shirt, beige pants and black shoes.
He is seen walking along Thornhill Road, carrying what looks like a small black bag in his left hand. The scene is one of early morning urban life, with cars parked on the side of the road and traffic passing in the distance as he nears the intersection of the busier Cavalcade Road.
Just before he goes out of frame, he looks back once over his left shoulder.
Höll said the footage he retrieved from the backpackers and houses in Cavalcade Road had incorrect time stamps, so he had to note the correct times, based on cellphone network time for each.
In these first videos, Mihalik is minutes away from being assassinated.
Still on the backpackers’ camera, Mihalik’s black Mercedes-Benz SUV with rounded back detail comes into frame behind a silver grey Polo VW with tinted windows.
With metres for the cars to travel to the intersection and the shooting, court adjourned for lunch on a cliffhanger.
Mihalik was shot in the head on 30 October 2018 as he powered to the final stretch to his children’s school, Reddam House, in Green Point.
His son was hit in the neck by a bullet fragment, leaving his teenage daughter screaming for help.
Sizwe Biyela, Nkosinathi Khumalo and Vuyile Maliti are on trial for murder, attempted murder and unlawful possession of a firearm. They have pleaded not guilty.
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