Amos and Zenzele Coka, both of whom were shot dead on a farm in the Mkhondo district on 9 April, would be alive today if police had responded promptly to a request for help from farmers, said investigating officer Warrant Officer Vukile David Nhlapho.
Nhlapho made the submission yesterday during the continuing bail hearing of farmers Daniel Malan, Cornelius Greyling, Othard Klingenberg, Ignatius Steynberg, and farm manager Zenzele Yende, who face charges of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and defeating the ends of justice arising from the Coka brothers’ deaths.
According to the accused’s version of events, police were summoned to Pampoenkraal farm – some 10 minutes by road from the nearest police station – more than an hour before the shootings took place.
Last week, Nhlapho told magistrate Simon Fankomo that the accused had committed the crimes detailed in the charge sheet, and argued that the element of common purpose was present in that they had conspired to act as they had.
Legal observers suggested that the investigating officer’s statement yesterday that the Coka brothers would be alive had police responded sooner to the call for help from the farmers themselves would appear to call into question the plausibility of the argument that the accused acted in concert to commit a premeditated murder.
Earlier yesterday – after security camera video footage of the events leading up to the deaths of the Coka brothers appeared to materially contradict witness testimony against the accused – Warrant Officer Nhlapho admitted that witness accounts were ‘incorrect’ in material respects, and that some of the witnesses the state was relying on had told ‘a blatant lie’.
The state questioned the reliability of the footage.
The contents of the footage of events at Pampoenkraal on 9 April were relayed to the court by Nhlapho, who had attended a viewing of the video by the state and defence teams.
The footage, which the Daily Friend has seen, evidently shows that the first altercation on 9 April on Pampoenkraal took the form of several men, armed with large sticks, invading the farm and harassing farm workers. It furthermore shows that Amos Mgcini Coka was forcefully removed from the scene by one of the farm workers.
This contradicts the version given by the state, according to which seven peaceful unarmed work-seekers arrived on the scene to meekly seek jobs. It also contradicts witnesses’ claims that Amos Coka was removed in the hands of those with whom he arrived at the farm: in the video footage, it is evident the farm worker who scrummed Amos Coka out was his own brother, Zenzele Coka.
The defence maintains that Amos Coka later shot dead his brother, Zenzele, who had remained loyal to his employers at Pampoenkraal.
The bail hearing continues tomorrow.