Former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli threatened to kill her brother but she did not report it because she feared him.

So said Jostine Ramogibe on Thursday in the Johannesburg High Court where Mdluli and former policeman Mthembeni Mthunzi are on trial for charges relating to the 1999 kidnapping and murder of her brother Oupa Ramogibe.

Oupa was married to Mdluli’s former lover Tshidi Buthelezi.

Mdluli and Mthunzi are also accused of intimidation‚ assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm‚ kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice.

They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Jostine told the court that she was visiting her sister in Windmill Park on a weekend when Mdluli came looking for her brother.

She said Mdluli threatened to kill Oupa. He told her and her sister that if he found Oupa first‚ he would kill him‚ Jostine said.

When Mdluli’s lawyer Ike Motloung asked if she had reported the incident to the police‚ Jostine said she did not.

“We were all scared of Mr Mdluli‚” she said.

Her family could not report Mdluli to the police because he was in charge of the Vosloorus police station‚ she said. They also did not trust the police.

She said although she met Mdluli for the first time when he came to her sister’s home‚ she had heard about him and that he often went to her parents’ house and threatened to kill Oupa.

Motloung asked Jostine to identify two statements which the state had provided to the defence. These were said to be made by her but Jostine told the court that she did not make the statements to the police. She also said she did not sign them.

“This is fraud. It’s forgery. Somebody pretends to be you‚” Motloung said to Jostine‚ who conceded that that was the case.

“Yes. It is not I who made the statement. This is not my signature‚” she said referring to one of the statements.

“Whoever did it must have been up to mischief‚” Motloung said.

The trial continues.