Cape Town - The trial of Sizwe Biyela, Nkosinathi Khumalo and Vuyile Maliti, accused of killing criminal lawyer Pete Mihalik, continued in the Western Cape High Court with police officer and former Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) member Ricardo Davids in the witness box.
Davids said he was one of the 15 uniform members assigned to offer assistance to an AGU detective working the case on October 30, 2018.
“We were looking for a suspect by the name of Maliti that was possibly involved in the shooting of Mr Mihalik,” Davids said.
He said his commander “Japhta” had given instruction for the uniform members to escort Khumalo to different locations as they tried to track down Maliti.
“One of the detectives informed us that we would have to escort him to various addresses. We would be escorting the detectives and offering support in whatever else they wanted to do,” he said answering questions posed by State advocate Greg Wolmarans.
When asked who the detective was, Davids testified, “I cannot recall the surname”, but that his commander had given the instructions. He said he didn’t lay eyes on “the suspect” and had no interaction with him.
Maliti’s lawyer, in raising an objection on what Davids heard when they arrived at the Khayelitsha address, asked whether the commander would be testifying, but Wolmarans said that they could not confirm if the AGU commander would testify.
Davids’ version corroborated that of former AGU detective Isaac Tshabalala, who testified two weeks ago.
He said they drove to a Khayelitsha address in a convoy on the day of the murder, where they met a woman who told them Maliti wasn’t there but they could try to find him in Kuils River.
Davids said they got Maliti’s cellphone number from the woman’s cellphone, who they suspected was Maliti’s mother. She was trying to call someone when he saw Maliti’s name on the screen.
He said thereafter they proceeded to Bardale Village where they breached a home that turned out to be the wrong address. They then went to a mall in Langa, ending up at Pinelands police station, and then proceeded to Cape Town Central police station.
When Khumalo’s lawyer put it to him that his client claimed that Davids was one of the police officers present at this very same Khayelitsha house where he was assaulted, he said: “I cannot confirm such an assault or event took place.”