The Durban High Court dismissed an application to acquit a man who allegedly killed his friend after he had apparently dated his girlfriend behind his back.
Judge Wala Ceda ruled yesterday that according to evidence before the court, it was not acceptable to find Ndumiso Cetshwayo, 44, not guilty to all the charges against him.
Cetshwayo's lawyer, Kelvin Singh, had filed an application to the court to find him not guilty on all charges after the state had failed to bring solid evidence proving that he had killed Mlamuli Msomi, 39.
Ceda said the evidence submitted by the state had proven that Cetshwayo had participated in the killing of Msomi on the night of May 27 2014, in Richmond in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.
Cetshwayo and his co-accused, Simanga Zikalala, 41, allegedly lured Msomi with alcohol, killed him and concealed his body in a nearby forest.
This was after they had found out about the relationship between Msomi and Cetshwayo's girlfriend who lives in Durban. The two are facing murder and theft charges.
A bloodied Msomi was found by children playing in a forest a kilometre away from his home the next day. He later died at St Anne's Hospital in Pietermaritzburg.
During arguments between the defence and state, Prosecutor Daniel MacD onald told the court that five witnesses who testified in the murder trial had brought solid evidence implicating Cetshwayo in the cases.
Macdonald said evidence delivered by Zikalala, against Cetshwayo that he stabbed the deceased three times on the chest was confirmed by the postmortem.
"Warrant Officer Emmanuel Mbatha testified in court that they had discovered a Blackberry cellphone belonging to the deceased in Cetshwayo's pocket. Cetshwayo even admitted to the police that the cellphone belonged to the deceased," MacDonald said.
Zikalala's girlfriend, Nompumelelo Vilakazi, also testified that Cetshwayo was in the company of Zikalala on the night he was killed.
However, Singh argued that no evidence brought before court proved that Cetshwayo was at the scene of the crime on the night of the murder.
"No knife was found in my client's possession and no fingerprints linked him to the case," Singh said.
Evidence implicates man in rival's death
The Durban High Court dismissed an application to acquit a man who allegedly killed his friend after he had apparently dated his girlfriend behind his back.
Judge Wala Ceda ruled yesterday that according to evidence before the court, it was not acceptable to find Ndumiso Cetshwayo, 44, not guilty to all the charges against him.
Cetshwayo's lawyer, Kelvin Singh, had filed an application to the court to find him not guilty on all charges after the state had failed to bring solid evidence proving that he had killed Mlamuli Msomi, 39.
Ceda said the evidence submitted by the state had proven that Cetshwayo had participated in the killing of Msomi on the night of May 27 2014, in Richmond in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.
Cetshwayo and his co-accused, Simanga Zikalala, 41, allegedly lured Msomi with alcohol, killed him and concealed his body in a nearby forest.
This was after they had found out about the relationship between Msomi and Cetshwayo's girlfriend who lives in Durban. The two are facing murder and theft charges.
A bloodied Msomi was found by children playing in a forest a kilometre away from his home the next day. He later died at St Anne's Hospital in Pietermaritzburg.
During arguments between the defence and state, Prosecutor Daniel MacD onald told the court that five witnesses who testified in the murder trial had brought solid evidence implicating Cetshwayo in the cases.
Macdonald said evidence delivered by Zikalala, against Cetshwayo that he stabbed the deceased three times on the chest was confirmed by the postmortem.
"Warrant Officer Emmanuel Mbatha testified in court that they had discovered a Blackberry cellphone belonging to the deceased in Cetshwayo's pocket. Cetshwayo even admitted to the police that the cellphone belonged to the deceased," MacDonald said.
Zikalala's girlfriend, Nompumelelo Vilakazi, also testified that Cetshwayo was in the company of Zikalala on the night he was killed.
However, Singh argued that no evidence brought before court proved that Cetshwayo was at the scene of the crime on the night of the murder.
"No knife was found in my client's possession and no fingerprints linked him to the case," Singh said.
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