No bloodstains found in alleged van used in murder of Coligny teen

The North West High Court in Mahikeng has heard that the bakkie of the two men accused of the murder of Coligny teenager Mahlomola Mosweu, was taken for investigation and that no bloodstains were found on it.

Senior North West police officer Clifford Kgorane has revealed this under cross examination by defence counsel for accused number 1, Pieter Doorewaard.

Kgorane says the bakkie was taken to the police four days after the incident in which Mahlomola Mosweu was allegedly pushed off the moving vehicle.

Doorewaard, 26, and Phillip Schutte, 34 – who maintain that the boy jumped off – are facing seven charges, including murder, intimidation and unlawful possession of a firearm.

The State alleges Doorewaard and Schutte assaulted Mosweu and throw him out of a moving van on April 20, 2017, at Rietvlei farm near Coligny, after accusing him of stealing sunflower heads from their employer Pieter Karsten’s sunflower plantation.

The state further alleges that the pair kidnapped a man who reportedly witnessed the incident and forcefully drove  around with him on a farm, assaulting and threatening to kill him if he reported the incident. They also allegedly stole his cellphone and pointed him with a firearm.

The pair pleaded not guilty to the seven charges leveled against them.

On Monday, the North High Court revisited the scene where Mosweu was allegedly killed.

Bonakele Pakisi, who witnessed the incident, pointed out the scene to Judge Ronald Hendricks.

Pakisi said he saw the two men dumping Mosweu’s body and when they realised he had seen them, they picked up the deceased, loaded him into the back of the van and also confronted him, asking if he had seen what happened.

He replied that he did not see anything and they put him at the load base of the van and drove around with him, before threatened him.

They drove to a dam where they pointed him with a firearm, made him to drink alcohol and ordered him to run in front of a moving bakkie, while at the same time firing shots around him.

He testified that he vomited and collapsed. The two left him near a dam, not too far Scotland informal settlement, while according to him, all this time Mosweu was lying, bleeding at the load base of the van.

Mosweu’s death, known as the “sonneblom (sunflower) murder”, triggered violent community protests that left a trail of destruction in the small maize-growing town and divided the community along race lines. Six houses and three trucks were torched, while several shops were looted and damaged.

The trial continues.

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