Durban – Two brothers charged with the murder of a Phoenix police sergeant and the attempted murder of another officer appeared in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, where they are disputing giving statements and doing a pointing out.
The brothers Nkosikhona and Kusakwendoda Luthuli are alleged to have shot and killed Sibongile Thelma Mbanjwa and Sergeant WS Dlungwana in 2021.
They were in a vehicle which was parked in Ndwedwe Road, Verulam.
In court the State alleges that the two officers pulled off onto the road for “romantic time alone”.
While the two were “engaged with one another” inside their parked car it is alleged that the Luthuli brothers approached and tried to rob the couple.
It is alleged the accused were armed with guns and when they approached making demands, the couple tried to get away in the car and the accused fired at them fatally wounding Mbanjwa.
This resulted in the couple’s car crashing into a boulder and this was when Dlungwana managed to flee into a nearby sugar cane field where he hid as the accused searched for him with no avail.
After being unable to find Dlungwana, the Luthuli brothers fled in the car they had arrived in with a third person, Bhekisisa Mbonambi, whom they had left alone in the car while allegedly committing the offence.
The trial against the Luthulis began last year in October where Mbonambi was a state witness and testified.
Evidence was led including statements the brothers had made confessing to the murder and attempted murder.
They are also charged with attempted robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The brothers disputed their confession statements and the matter was forced to have a trial within a trial looking at the validity of the statements.
The brothers told the court that they were assaulted and threatened and that parts of the statements were fabricated.
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