TSHEPISO Mpulo (23) could not stand watching her cousin being beaten to death, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.
All she did was cry and ran home.
Tshepiso told the Palmridge High Court today, 7 September, that she later learnt that her cousin Irvin Malley had died from the assault.
“It was around 5.35am in the morning of 19 May 2021 when my grandmother woke me up.
“She said there was a crowd making noise outside and told me to go and check,” she said.
She said she saw a group of men and followed them until they reached Mabutho section of Zandspruit.
Tshepiso said said when she got there, she realised that community members were beating Irvin outside a shack.
She said she didn’t know who the shack belonged to.
“Irvin was bleeding and pleading for his life,” said Tshepiso.
She said he was being beaten with a sjambok.
Tshepiso told the court that she couldn’t clearly see all the faces of her cousin’s attackers.
“It was dark,” she said.
She said she ran back home and on her way, she met her aunt, who called the cops.
She said she saw Irvin again at the local sports ground at about 7am and he was with other eight boys.
“Their hands were tied with wires behind their backs. Irvin’s head was cut open on the right side and he was heavily bleeding.
“The cops came, but the crowd turned them away,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Tebogo Mabula, Mziwamangwane Witbooi, Njabulo Zwane, Phakiswa Tsengiswa, Maxwell Mpofu, Klaas Masemola, Joshua Mabodze, Alfred Mollo, Everyone Moyo, Phillimon Seemela, Douglas Tshuma, Charles Ramashia, Phiwe Khubeka and Peter Mufamadi are facing eight counts of murder, two of attempted murder, 10 of kidnapping and three of housebreaking.
Tshepiso pointed out Seemela in court as one of the people who assaulted Irvin.
She said she knows him as Mareza and they were neighbours for two years before the incident.
The deceased also include Mwezi Magidla, Johannes Moyo, Vusi Seapi, Kenneth Mpfumadi, Nthando Ndlovu, Lucky Shabalala and Blessed Moyo.
Thabang Malebe and Moses Kgatla survived the attacks.
Tsengiswa, the only woman among the accused, was not present in court through arrangement.
Tshepiso said her cousin’s death still haunts her.
The trial continues.
