Victim takes stand in Phoenix unrest murder trial
One of the victims of the 2021 unrest attack in Durban that claimed the life of Njabulo Dlamini took to the stand in the Durban High Court on Tuesday.
Ravine Naidoo, Trevor Gopal, Tyreece and Timothy Govender are on trial for murder and attempted murder following the incident outside a tavern in Phoenix.
On Tuesday, a calm-looking Nkosikhona Madlala sat upright in the witness box, avoiding eye contact with the four accused, who were seated next to each other in the dock.
He told the court he recognised three of the accused, but said he was seeing tavern owner Trevor Gopal for the first time on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old Madlala survived the attack outside Tees Tavern on 12 July 2021.
After proceedings resumed following a technical glitch with the microphone, Madlala began explaining how the day unfolded.
READ: Phoenix unrest murder trial: Witness grilled for ‘inconsistent’ statements
He told the court he was at home in Inanda when a white Toyota Quantum minibus pulled up outside his yard.
Njabulo Dlamini, Sandile Sambo, Sanele Merase, Mthobisi Ntuli and Linda Khawula were inside the vehicle.
He says Dlamini, who was one of the five people in the vehicle, asked him to accompany them to Tees Tavern.
Madlala told the court he used to visit the tavern to buy cocaine from dealers selling inside the establishment.
Last week, the trial was shown video footage of several cars arriving at the tavern and blocking the minibus.
A mob was then seen attacking the minibus’ occupants.
A state witness last week claimed that Gopal gave orders to assault the victims.
The minibus was torched.
Dlamini died in hospital after the attack.
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