While testifying, Mtshali kept on wiping her tears as she recalled the pain her son endured. He was abducted before being brutally killed by people he called his friends.
Asked about his reaction after realising that the assailants were not cops as they had claimed, Mtshali replied: "I begged them not to take my son away. But they went on assaulting him and dragged him out [of the house]. I watched helplessly."
The deceased, Phiwayinkosi "Macala" Mhlongo, was only 15 when he was killed two years ago.
According to the indictment, the teenager was abducted at his home on April 3 2017 and forced to a nearby school where the assailants assaulted him before shooting him twice to death.
The accused are alleged to have not been content with killing him, and they went on to chop his head off and removed his genitals.
The teenager was apparently part of a gang with the accused and wanted out. He was apparently being accused of being a snitch.
All the accused have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping and possession of unlicensed firearm.
The trial continues tomorrow.
Mom relives son's last moments
An emotionally wrecked mother of a Durban teenager who was hacked to death and his head dumped near his Umlazi home wept as she relayed her son's last moments.
Thokozile Mtshali, 42, told the Durban High Court yesterday that the accused, Simphiwe Ntshangase, 19, Banele Mhlongo, 20, Njabulo Mbatha, 20, Luyanda Zulu, 20, and Njabulo Mhlongo, 19, all had a common purpose to kill her son.
"I still remember vividly the events of that day. We had just finished having supper when suddenly I heard a loud knock on the door," Mtshali told the court. "When I inquired as to who was at the door, the accused responded by saying they were police.
"They claimed that they were looking for Phiwa and that he had committed a crime."
Mtshali was being led by state advocate Krishen Shah.
While testifying, Mtshali kept on wiping her tears as she recalled the pain her son endured. He was abducted before being brutally killed by people he called his friends.
Asked about his reaction after realising that the assailants were not cops as they had claimed, Mtshali replied: "I begged them not to take my son away. But they went on assaulting him and dragged him out [of the house]. I watched helplessly."
The deceased, Phiwayinkosi "Macala" Mhlongo, was only 15 when he was killed two years ago.
According to the indictment, the teenager was abducted at his home on April 3 2017 and forced to a nearby school where the assailants assaulted him before shooting him twice to death.
The accused are alleged to have not been content with killing him, and they went on to chop his head off and removed his genitals.
The teenager was apparently part of a gang with the accused and wanted out. He was apparently being accused of being a snitch.
All the accused have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping and possession of unlicensed firearm.
The trial continues tomorrow.