Africa-Press – South-Africa. The murder trial of two men accused of murdering an elderly Cape Town couple in their house continued in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.
Lwazi Ntsibantsiba and Gcinile Ngcobela are accused of the murders of Rugeya and Riedwaan Addinall in their Ottery home on 5 January 2019. They pleaded not guilty.
They are believed to have been strangled with a ligature, and rat poison was found in Rugeya’s mouth.
Ngcobela was the couple’s long-time gardener and helped with other tasks around the house.
On the day of the murder, they called him to help them with some jobs around the house.
He said he did not think he could do it that day, but he went over with Ntsibantsiba in the hopes of leaving him there while he went off to the other work he had lined up in his growing small business.
On Monday, the court heard details of the delicate dance with cash flow that small businesses have, and the knock-on effect caused if one client does not pay for work done.
Neighbour of murdered Cape Town couple testifies
Ntsibantsiba, a tall, lean man, was 18 at the time of the Adinalls’ murder.
Both are out on bail.
He sits outside in the sun during adjournments and listens to music on his headphones.
Ngcobela got a thorough dressing down by Judge Bryan Hack for being late on Monday due to traffic and was warned his bail would be revoked if it happened again.
Ntsibantsiba told the court on Monday he had just finished Grade 11 at school in Cape Town and was working at a construction site mixing concrete for R120 a day during the 2018 December holidays.
He planned to save up the R600 bus fare and the spending money he would need for a Christmas break with family in the Eastern Cape. New Year would be spent with friends in Cape Town, and he wanted to contribute to the beach party they were planning.
Ntsibantsiba had moved to Delft in Cape Town from Elliotdale for school and lived with his uncle, who used to work for the MyCiTi bus service but became disabled. Due to his uncle’s condition, his responsibility was to cook, clean and do his uncle’s laundry.
They got by on his uncle’s disability money, and when asked if he was desperate for cash, he disputed it strongly.
Why ANC councillors in an Eastern Cape municipality are living in fear
Ntsibantsiba said the taxi driver next door ate supper with them in exchange for contributing to the groceries, and he was used to working over the school holidays for cash.
He told the court Ngcobela was a friend of his uncle’s and would visit regularly, but his relationship with him was just small talk over his uncle when they bumped into each other in the street.
Ntsibantsiba said one day in December 2018, he bumped into Ngcobela, and after some chit-chat, Ngcobela offered him a job in his home maintenance business for R200 a day.
Ngcobela said he had a backlog of jobs that needed to be completed by Christmas Day, and he could do with the extra help.
The first week went well, but on the second week, Ntsibantsiba was short-paid, and on the third, he was not paid at all.
He testified Ngcobela’s explanation was a man they did some painting for had not paid him yet.
He was eventually given the balance of the second week’s pay, but as Christmas came up, there was no sign of the third week’s pay.
‘It’s like they are living in prison’- Hanover Park residents live in fear amid ongoing gang violence
His plan to visit the Eastern Cape and have fun with his friends at the beach party was dashed.
“I ended up not going,” Ntsibantsiba said. “Because I did not have the money.”
To make matters worse, Ngcobela was not taking his calls anymore and was not found at home. He kept checking to see if the money had been deposited and was becoming despondent. Then suddenly, he heard from him on the day of the murder.
“He phoned me to say, ‘Let’s go and work in Ottery’.”
Ngcobela told Ntsibantsiba they were never going to get paid for the old job where money was still owed, and he would give the person who gave him the work lead a piece of his mind.
In the meantime, he said he had a painting job that day, and those usually come with a deposit upfront. That way, he could settle his debt with Ntsibantsiba, and Ntsibantsiba could earn some extra cash too.
Ntsibantsiba added he would go on condition his transport expenses were covered and he was paid by the time school started the coming Tuesday.
Cape Town teacher stabbed by intruder in Grade 2 classroom
He went and boiled some water for a bath, had breakfast, packed his work clothes, and he and Ngcobela met up and headed for the Addinalls.
The trial continues on Tuesday and is expected to go into more depth on how the Adinalls were found when the two men came back from the local Spar with some shopping the elderly couple needed.
Ntsibantsiba said when he walked into the kitchen, he saw the couple dead.
“I was shocked.”
However, Ngcobela’s lawyer, Bashir Sibda, argued at length that that could not have been the case because there were groceries underneath, not on top of the upturned table and a chair.
Ngcobela argued he left Ntsibantsiba to go and do the other job and when he returned, the couple was dead.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
