OMPHITLHETSE MOOKI
THEY stood stony-faced, listening as Johannesburg High Court Judge Sharise Weiner disproved their evidence, convicting them of the 2009 murders of a Soweto taxi owner and his friend.
As the judge neared the end of her lengthy judgment, Bheki Nxumalo yawned, stretching his arms behind his back, while the dreadlocked Siphelele Goodenough Khanyile stood motionless next to him.
“In my view, the State has accordingly proved the guilt of both accused beyond reasonable doubt. The accused are found guilty on charges one, two, three and four,” said Judge Weiner.
The families of taxi owner Mzikayifani Dumisani Dlamini and Raphael Mahlangu were not in court yesterday as the trial of the two men who fired a volley of bullets at Dlamini’s taxi in 2009, leading to the men’s death, neared an end.
But in a detailed judgment, Judge Weiner ensured that Dlamini and Mahlangu’s families got justice, and announced she would sentence the two men today.
She started off by outlining evidence presented by various witnesses, before launching into evidence by Nxumalo and Khanyile, who had distanced themselves from the crime.
When giving his version of the November 20, 2009 events, Nxumalo said he had been “innocently” walking past the Sputnik garage in Meadowlands when he heard gunshots.
One of the bullets hit him in his thigh, forcing him to drop from the pavement onto the road. He had then rolled onto the middle lane to avoid being hit by oncoming cars.
But Judge Weiner found his evidence to be “fraught with improbabilities”.
When Nxumalo and Khanyile opened fire on Dlamini’s taxi – which had been parked at the Sputnik garage – Dlamini returned fire, wounding Nxumalo.
Nxumalo was arrested near the scene, and the owner of the garage, Muzikayise Dhlamini, positively identified him as the person he had seen crawling out of his premises after the shooting.
The judge said the State had proved Khanyile’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Besides the two murder charges, the pair were found guilty of unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition.