The boy who was killed for allegedly stealing a sunflower head was still breathing when police arrived on the scene.

Warrant Officer Jeremia Moremi Modisane, who attended the scene in Coligny, North West, testified this in the North West High Court in Mahikeng yesterday.

He was called to the stand as the second witness to tell the court what happened when the two men accused of killing the boy - Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte - arrived at the police station on April 20 last year.

This was the day when 16-year-old Matlhomola Mosweu from Scotland informal settlement was allegedly killed by the two after accusing him of stealing a sunflower head.

Modisane said the two reported that there was a boy who fell off their bakkie while they were trying to drive him to the police station.

He said the two asked him to call the ambulance and directed him to the scene of the incident but refused to go with him, saying they had other errands to attend to.

Modisane further told the court that when he arrived at the scene he found the teenager still breathing while lying with his head facing down.

He said before he knocked off, his colleague informed him that the child had died.

Modisane said he called Schutte to tell him that the boy had died but after telling him, the phone just cut off.

Prosecutor Rapula Molefe asked whether Schutte tried to call back, Modisane said he did not.

Molefe told the court he was trying to show the two accused failed to open the theft case despite going to the police station. He said the two did not care about Mosweu's injuries as they went to the police instead of calling an ambulance.

He said they also refused to go back to the scene with the police officer.

Molefe said they made things worse by cutting off Modisane's phone call instead of responding to the report that Mosweu had died.

Modisane said that previously when children around Scotland stole sunflowers, the farmers approached the police station and the parents of those children paid a fine of R300.

However, that did not happen in Mosweu's case.

Doorewaard and Schutte are out on R5000 bail.

The trial continues.