Witness details killing of eThekwini metro cop in court testimony
A witness has told the Durban High Court that he was hired to drive the four suspects accused of killing eThekwini metro police officer Errol Ogle on the day of the murder.
The man, who has turned state witness, resumed his testimony on Tuesday morning.
Ogle was killed in July last year when he stopped a truck that was going against traffic on the Hans Dettman Highway.
He was unaware that the vehicle had been hijacked.
The witness, who is understood to be an e-hailing taxi driver, told the court he transported four men in his car after they promised to pay him R1,000.
He's testified that, after picking them up in Umlazi, he listened to them discuss their plans to hijack a truck.
The court heard that he was then instructed to tail a truck carrying meat on the M7.
According to the testimony, the driver cut off the goods vehicle - forcing it to stop.
The four passengers then allegedly jumped out and hijacked the truck, after which he drove off but decided to circle back to the scene to see if the job was done.
The witness said he noticed that two of the accused, Mzomuhle Gamede and Phakamani Mlungisi Mpanza, had now taken over the truck, driving it against traffic - and towards a metro police car.
He claimed he became afraid and drove off again to Mayville.
During his testimony, the witness pointed at the three accused who sat quietly in the dock as three of the four passengers he ferried.
The witness told the court that he later heard from Mpanza asking him to fetch him but he refused.
He said he eventually met up with Mpanza, who told him one of his accomplices shot the metro police officer and drove off in the police car.
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The trial heard at the end of their meeting, Mpanza suggested that they hand themselves over to the police. The witness said that same day, he and Mpanza ran into a police officer friend and told the cop they were involved in the incident.
He woke up to police at his door the following day, according to his testimony.
Mpanza had fled and was later arrested in Estcourt.
Days after the murder, police also detained Gamede and Sabelo Mncube.
In court, Ogle's wife, Faith, wept silently as the details of the possible events that led to her husband's death were heard.
A fourth suspect, the alleged shooter, is still on the run.
The state witness is expected to be cross-examined on Wednesday.
