More details emerge in Limpopo pigsty murder trial
State witness Rudolph de Wet has described to the Polokwane High Court how he and farm owner Zachariah Olivier found the first body after firing shots in the direction of alleged trespassers.
Limpopo farm owner Olivier and his employee, Zimbabwean national William Musora, are accused of murdering Maria Makgato and Lucia Ndlovu on the Onverwaght farm in Sebayeng in August last year, and throwing their bodies into a pigsty.
Makgato (45) and Ndlovu (35) were shot and killed while collecting expired food at the farm outside Polokwane.
Accused turned state witness De Wet, who has turned state witness, said they found the first body a few meters away from where they fired the shots.
He told the court that they decided to go home as there were no visible wounds on the victim’s body.
De Wet says he was terrified, but Olivier told him not to worry as the victim would wake up or be rescued by someone on the farm.
He further told the court that they returned to the scene the next morning, where they found the body in the same place as they had left it.
That is when they decided to move it to the pigsty.
“Accused number one, he told me we must put it inside the pigsty,” said De Wet.
“Where this body was placed, were there pigs inside?” asked state prosecutor, Advocate George Sekhukhune.
De Wet answered in the affirmative, saying there were between eight and ten pigs in the pen at the time.
He said they received a call from accused number three, William Musora.
“When we arrived there, we found accused number three, who pointed at the body lying far from where we picked up the first one,” said De Wet.
“How far was this second to the first body?” asked Sekhukhune.
“Maybe about between 20, 25 and 30 meters,” answered De Wet, adding that the body was lying on its side.
De Wet testified that Olivier cut up the guns which were used during the shooting, and disposed of the pieces together with the cartridges into a borehole.
Ndlovu's husband, Mabutho Ncube, who was with them at the time, was also shot but survived the incident.
Olivier and Musora already pleaded not guilty to murder charges, while De Wet’s charges remain provisionally withdrawn.
The case has been adjourned until Wednesday.
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