THE girlfriend of one of the men accused of the rape and murder of Sinoxolo Mafevuka provided an alibi for him in the Western Cape High Court today.
"He was sleeping next to me. He did not wake up," Thandeka Ntame said after being questioned on Athabile Mafilika's whereabouts at the time of the murder.
Nineteen-year-old Mafevuka was found dead in a communal toilet in SST 2 Block, Town Two, in Khayelitsha on the morning of 2 March, 2016.
She was naked and her clothes had been stuffed into the toilet cistern. Water from the leaking toilet is believed to have washed any DNA evidence away.
Cousins Athabile and Xolisa Mafilika were arrested for the rape and murder.
Ntame had initially been reluctant to testify as a witness, telling Acting Judge Taswell Papier that she did not think the court would believe her because she would be testifying about her boyfriend.
A warrant for her arrest had been issued to get her to court, but she said her grandmother convinced her to testify and she had come of her own volition today.
She said that on the night of March 1 she had watched the soapie Generations on television, then went to visit Athabile at his aunt's house. Xolisa was there too, as were two other people.
Eventually the aunt told everybody to leave because they were making a noise.
The Mafilika cousins lived on the same property and when they got home after leaving their aunt's place, Xolisa knocked at his own door and somebody opened for him and let him, Athabile and Ntame in.
Athabile and Ntame slept in his room for the night.
"I am sure (he did not leave the bed). We were holding each other and when he wakes up, I would hear."
She said Mafevuka was a friend of hers. She last saw her on the Sunday morning before her death. They had all been out together on Saturday night and had had a nice time.
A short inquiry was held after her testimony to find out why she had not attended court previously, as required.
After listening to her explanation and her apology, Papier said he accepted her reasons and would not find her guilty of contempt of court.
He warned her not to do it again.
"When witnesses do not come to court, this entire court and infrastructure come to a standstill," said Papier.
"So it is a very serious position where witnesses don't come to court when they are warned to attend."
The trial was adjourned to 30 August to locate another witness who had moved to Mount Frere in Eastern Cape and because a police witness had been booked off with an injury until the end of August.
