THE high court in Pretoria yesterday heard how a pioneering Catholic priest died after he was shot during a robbery at his presbytery in Diepsloot two years ago.
Four young Diepsloot men, Kgaugelo Manzini, Thembalethu Sindane, Freddy Mahlangu and Jabu Ndebele, pleaded not guilty to the December 7 2009 murder of Father Louis Blondel, 70.
They also denied robbing Blondel and Father Guido Bourgeois of a computer, cellphone, watch and R50, and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
A fifth accused, Nelson Malope, 20, was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment in September after pleading guilty to the charges.
Samuel Thobane, who lived at the presbytery, testified he had been asleep when a gunshot woke him. He saw three men running away. He heard Bourgeois screaming in the kitchen and was on his way to help him when he saw blood on the floor. He went to Blondel's room and found him in a pool of blood at the door.
Bourgeois had pushed a fridge in front of the kitchen door and opened it when Thobane assured him the attackers had run away.
A Diepsloot housewife, Yoliswa Yeyani, testified she was doing her washing that afternoon when Sindane offered her a cellphone for R100. She paid R60 for it.
Sindane's lawyer said he would admit selling the phone to Yeyani, but it belonged to his friends and he had been promised R10 if he could find a buyer for it.
Blondel, who was born in France, moved to South Africa in 1987 after spending his early years as a missionary in Tanzania. At one stage he lived in Soweto and taught philosophy at St Peter's seminary in Hammanskraal. He also did pioneering work in the Orange Farm area before he moved to Diepsloot in 2008, where he built a church and a community house.
Priest's murder accused in court
THE high court in Pretoria yesterday heard how a pioneering Catholic priest died after he was shot during a robbery at his presbytery in Diepsloot two years ago.
Four young Diepsloot men, Kgaugelo Manzini, Thembalethu Sindane, Freddy Mahlangu and Jabu Ndebele, pleaded not guilty to the December 7 2009 murder of Father Louis Blondel, 70.
They also denied robbing Blondel and Father Guido Bourgeois of a computer, cellphone, watch and R50, and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
A fifth accused, Nelson Malope, 20, was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment in September after pleading guilty to the charges.
Samuel Thobane, who lived at the presbytery, testified he had been asleep when a gunshot woke him. He saw three men running away. He heard Bourgeois screaming in the kitchen and was on his way to help him when he saw blood on the floor. He went to Blondel's room and found him in a pool of blood at the door.
Bourgeois had pushed a fridge in front of the kitchen door and opened it when Thobane assured him the attackers had run away.
A Diepsloot housewife, Yoliswa Yeyani, testified she was doing her washing that afternoon when Sindane offered her a cellphone for R100. She paid R60 for it.
Sindane's lawyer said he would admit selling the phone to Yeyani, but it belonged to his friends and he had been promised R10 if he could find a buyer for it.
Blondel, who was born in France, moved to South Africa in 1987 after spending his early years as a missionary in Tanzania. At one stage he lived in Soweto and taught philosophy at St Peter's seminary in Hammanskraal. He also did pioneering work in the Orange Farm area before he moved to Diepsloot in 2008, where he built a church and a community house.
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