Africa-Press – South-Africa. Judgment for the three men accused of assassinating Cape Town lawyer Pete Mihalik ended on a cliffhanger on Tuesday as the judge adjourned proceedings until Wednesday after summing up the evidence.
The accused, Sizwe Biyela, Nkosinathi Khumalo and Vuyile Maliti, pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to murder, two counts of the attempted murder of Mihalik’s children, and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Mihalik’s son was struck by a bullet fragment that killed his father while on a school run on 30 October 2018. His daughter was unharmed and screamed for help, with their Mercedes-Benz SUV still running and her dying father’s foot still on the brake near their school in Green Point Cape Town.
On Tuesday, Judge Constance Nziweni placed heavy emphasis on the alibis the accused presented.
Only one member of the public was in the gallery to hear the next instalment of the judgment – read in English, isiXhosa and isiZulu for the benefit of the accused – from small sections of the judgment handed over to interpreters.
All three accused have said they had nothing to do with Mihalik’s murder, claiming they had been conducting a black market gold coin deal in the parking lot of the Cape Quarter Spar in Greenpoint, down the road from where Malik was killed, at the time of the assassination. Only, they did not produce their alibis in court.
The alibis:
Biyela said his girlfriend was with him on the morning of the murder, but the police confiscated his phone so he could not bring her as an alibi because he cannot remember her number. He also did not know he could bring an alibi because this was his first arrest. Plus, he did not want to anger his wife with information about a girlfriend.
Maliti said no matter how hard he tried, the gold dealers he allegedly he met on the morning of 29 October 2018 and the day of the murder would not testify on his behalf.
Khumalo said his alibi had died.
The Krugerrand deal:
Maliti owns taxis in Khayelitsha, but also dabbles in the sale of second-hand gold. He first dealt with Biyela in 2016, when he moved some gold and silver for him.
Biyela is from Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal and changed careers from being a general worker in a warehouse to a second-hand Krugerrand dealer after talking to a contact in a tavern.
At the end of October 2018, Biyela and Khumalo went to Cape Town for Maliti to sell their Krugerrands for them.
Maliti was to get a 20% commission.
Khumalo is a taxi driver from Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal. He gave Biyela R60 000 to buy eight Krugerrands for him, telling him to “keep the change”.
He wanted to sell the coins for R110 000 once he arrived in Cape Town.
Biyela, an old hand by then, was going to sell 11 of his own coins. The coins were not sold at the parking lot as expected. Maliti went to Kenilworth in Cape Town and got R200 000 for them at a gold exchange instead.
Maliti said all gold exchanges in Cape Town operate on the “black market”, although they offer less than retail prices.
Biyela never saw his money. Khumalo says his coins were on the front seat of his Renault Clio when the car was stolen while he was talking to traffic officer Boy Makhutu.
Maliti went off the radar until he handed himself into the police. By then, he had spent the R200 000 on unspecified items.
The mystery cellphone number:
Biyela said he was trying to do a side hustle with another gold dealer before he was arrested at the Bellville Bus Station. He said this person was the mystery number found in his cellphone records, ending with 6530.
Nziweni noted that the two spoke for 26 minutes in total.
The question is: Was this person coordinating the assassination by phone or a gold dealer as Biyela claims?
The number became unavailable soon after the assassination.
The mystery occupant in Maliti’s VW Polo at the traffic stop:
Maliti said the mystery occupant in his VW Polo was a man named Baba, from a gold exchange in Cape Town, who they met at the Spar parking lot. He said he was giving Baba a lift back to his shop in the CBD.
Baba allegedly did not want to buy the coins and did not want to go to court to vouch for Maliti.
The mystery occupant in Khumalo’s car, seen by traffic officer Makhutu:
Khumalo insists his unsold gold coins were on the passenger seat, not a person. The state suspects the occupant seen by Makhutu was the alleged shooter, Biyela, and that Biyela drove the car away, leaving Khumalo behind, to get away as quickly as possible.
However, Biyela says it’s impossible because he does not know how to drive a car.
Why the Spar parking lot:
Maliti said the Spar was a good meeting place because it was quiet and easy to locate.
Khumalo’s allegation of torture:
Khumalo says he was tortured by police three times and finally signed a statement containing information he did not give.
The said statement contains a set of admissions that set out Khumalo’s expectation of being a taxi driver for Maliti, then finding himself caught up in a murder plot. He says the only reason he signed the statement was because he was tortured and wanted the torture to stop.
On Monday, Nziweni went over police evidence of the procedures they followed and there was no record of Khumalo having injuries other than the foot-scraping he sustained during his arrest.
Judgment continues on Wednesday, with Nziweni expected to say what she made of all of the evidence put in front of her.
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