Cape Town – An activist who is on trial for murder has testified that she believes the victim, who was “necklaced” in an alleged vigilante attack, was killed by a policeman.
Angy Peter took the witness stand in her own defence in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday after Judge Robert Henney rejected her application for a discharge, along with those of her co-accused.
Peter, a leading member of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) anti-vigilante campaign, has been put on trial with Azola Dayimani, Christopher Dina and her husband, Isaac Mbadu, who also works for the organisation.
They face charges relating to the murder of Rowan du Preez, who was allegedly abducted, “necklaced” and left for dead in Mfuleni in October 2012.
According to Peter, she had been at home with her family on the night of the attack. She had gone to bed at 8pm that night and woke up at about 9am the next morning. She was pregnant at the time.
Her defence counsel, William King, questioned her about an incident a couple of months earlier in August in which Du Preez had broken into her home and stolen her husband’s television set, asking whether she had wanted to kill Du Preez because of this.
“Not so, my lord,” she replied.
Peter told of having met Du Preez in early 2010 when she had intervened while he was being assaulted by community members for theft…
South Africa Today – South Africa News
