The first witness in the trial of alleged criminal kingpin Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and his four co-accused has told the High Court in Johannesburg that the hitmen who attacked businessman Joe Sibanyoni were heavily armed with multiple AK47 rifles.
Sibanyoni together with his entourage were attacked in August 2022 whilst parked at a golf estate in Centurion.
Matlala is accused of orchestrating the failed assassinations of Sibanyoni, his former girlfriend Tebogo Thobejane, and music producer Seunkie Mokubung, popularly known as DJ Vettys.
A security officer at the Golf Estate where Sibanyoni was shot at, Bethwell Cele, says he managed to fire back at the gunmen.
“I fired 15 rounds. It was a fight there, like the wild wild west. It was a very bad situation and even myself that day, I wish I had an AK47. When I was shooting those rounds, I was lying in a prone position.”
The defence teams in the has questioned the authenticity of CCTV footage of the attempted hit on Sibanyoni. The state wanted to enter the footage into evidence during Cele’s testimony.
Matlala, his wife Tsakane, alleged hit-men Musa Kekana and Tiego Mabusela, together with Ntabiseng Nzama face 25 charges in connection with the three botched hits between August 2022 and January 2024.
“We respectfully submit that until such time that the state has proven the authenticity of this video the state cannot rely on the witness to authenticate the evidence. The authentication of the evidence relies on what I mentioned earlier, and that’s how you authenticate digital evidence. You can’t use a layman who has got no qualifications in today’s time and age to authenticate evidence,” says Matlala’s attorney, Annalene van den Heever.
VIDEO | Day two of the high profile attempted murder trial :
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