Sentencing proceedings have begun in the murder trial of Mamelodi businessman Wandile Bozwana.
Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela and his three accomplices in the High Court in Pretoria. were convicted for the 2015 murder of the billionaire businessman.
Four days have been set aside for the case, which has taken over six years to complete.
Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela, Sipho Hudla, Robert Mutapa, and Bongani Khumalo were found guilty in June last year for the 2015 murder of Bozwana.
The accused were located and identified through CCTV footage, cellphone records, and an earlier confession by one of the accused, which was later reversed.
The court had to issue an arrest warrant for the Social Worker who compiled their psychosocial and pre-sentencing report to come to court and shed some light on the matter, as she was unavailable on numerous occasions.
The presiding judge in the case had previously threatened to report Defence Counsel, Advocate Annaline Van Der Heever, after she didn’t pitch on numerous occasions, citing poor health. The court heard testimony by the Social Worker in mitigation of the sentence on Tuesday.
The court ruled that the name and face of the social worker should be withheld.
“The current and previous criminal involvement in the case SAPS 300 and the previous conviction were not made available to me during the investigation. The accused is not a first offender in fact, he has two previous convictions. I did not take all the details, one was in 1997 and that was one of assault, the other one was in 2001, and I think it was reckless and negligent driving,” a social worker explains.
The matter is scheduled to sit until Friday this week.
Video: Wandile Bozwana murder trial resumes
