‘He was a good boy’: Kotze

 

Ina Bonnette's son Conrad was a good boy, her ex-husband, the so-called "Modimolle Monster" Johan Kotze, told the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday.

 

He was replying to a question by lawyer Francois van As, for two of his co-accused, Pieta Mohlane and Frans Mphaka.

 

Van As asked him about his comments on Conrad in a letter he wrote while on the run after shooting and killing the 19-year-old on January 3, 2012.

 

In this letter, Kotze made frequent references to Conrad, and asked Bonnette why she allowed him to come between them.

 

"Why did you allow Conrad to run our lives?" Kotze wrote.

 

Van As read the letter into the record on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he asked Kotze to read parts of it to the court.

 

Van As also asked Kotze to explain why he called Conrad a "soft terrorist".

 

He said there appeared to have been a problem between him and Conrad.

 

"I did not have all my wits about me when I wrote that," Kotze said.

 

"For me he was a good boy."

 

Kotze said when he and Bonnette started dating in 2009, Conrad was a difficult child, who had an eating disorder and often disappeared after fights with his mother.

 

"I wanted to help this man. I boosted him," Kotze said.

 

Van As also asked Kotze about his testimony about the shooting.

 

Kotze told the court on Tuesday that he did not aim at Conrad, but that the gun had just gone off.

 

"I did not have the intention to kill Conrad that afternoon," Kotze said.

 

Van As told the court were two cartridges were found on the floor, and one in the gun, and that Bonnette had testified to hearing three shots.

 

Van As said the gun needed to be reloaded after every shot, which Kotze confirmed.

 

Van As said Kotze must have reloaded the gun numerous times.

 

"I can't remember [reloading]," Kotze said.

 

"Your Honour, I only heard one shot.... I can't remember the events surrounding that incident at all. I know I did not aim at him."

 

Van As told the court Conrad was shot twice. Once in the knee and once in the head.

 

"It doesn't look like you missed much that day," he told Kotze.

 

He said that looking at the letter and Kotze's emotional state, it appeared he had intentionally shot Conrad.

 

"Your Honour, it's not true," Kotze said. He said he had helped Conrad and that they were a happy family.

 

"I was good for him and boosted him in his studies. It is totally untrue."

 

Throughout Kotze's testimony, Bonnette shook her head and frowned. She and Kotze's daughter Jo-Marie Kotze were in court on Wednesday.

 

Kotze is accused of orchestrating the gang rape of Bonnette, and of murdering her son in his rented house in Modimolle on January 3.

 

Andries Sithole, Mohlane, and Mphaka are accused of kidnapping, assaulting, repeatedly raping, and attempting to murder Bonnette that day.

 

Bonnette previously testified that Kotze tortured her with various objects before instructing the other three men to rape her.

 

She told the court she listened to her son pleading for his life before he was shot.

 

- Sapa