S v Khoza

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Judge: Corbett JA, Joubert JA, Holmes AJA, Hoexter AJA and Botha AJA
• Judgment Date: 28 May 1982
• Citation: 1982 (3) SA 1019 (A)
• Hearing Date: 09 March 1982
• Court: Appellate Division

Corbett JA:

The appellant was convicted of murder, with extenuating circumstances, by a Judge and assessors at a sitting of the Northern D Circuit (Local Division) held at Ladysmith, Natal. He was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment. He appeals to this Court against his conviction, leave to appeal having been granted by the trial Judge. The appeal raises some interesting questions of law.

The appellant appeared before the Court a quo as one of three coaccused. E He was accused No 1. Accused No 2 was one Magwaza Hlongwane and accused No 3 was Albert Tsanibezwe Hlongwane. (Collectively I shall refer to them as 'the accused'.) They were all charged with having murdered one Eric Mkhwanazi ('the deceased') and of having robbed the deceased of a wristwatch. It was alleged that aggrevating circumstances attended the robbery. Appellant was, as I have indicated, convicted on the murder F charge, but acquitted on the robbery charge. Accused No 2 was convicted of murder, with extenuating circumstances, and of theft of the wristwatch. Accused No 3 was acquitted on both charges.

The State case against the accused consisted of certain circumstantial G evidence and of statements made before the magistrate of Bergville by appellant and accused No 2. Naturally each of these statements was evidence only against the person who had made it. Accused Nos 2 and 3 gave evidence in their defence. Appellant did not give or call any evidence.

H The circumstantial evidence was essentially to the following effect. On Monday, 11 February 1980, the deceased and the three accused visited the kraal of one Majuba Vilakazi in the Dukuza location, which is situated in the Upper Tugela area. It was in the afternoon. Accused No 3 arrived first. He was evidently the chief of a tribe in that area and also a member of the Kwa-Zulu Legislative Assembly. The deceased came next, followed later by accused Nos 1 and 2, who arrived together. At Vilakazi's kraal they all drank whisky and thus passed the time of day. Eventually accused No 3 decided that it was time to leave. He climbed into his motor car, but it would not start. He then asked the deceased to fetch his (the deceased's) vehicle, a blue Vauxhall motor

Corbett JA

car, from where it was parked some distance away. By connecting wires from the one vehicle to the other, they attempted to start accused No 3's motor car, but without success. Finally, they all, ie the deceased A and the accused, left in the deceased's vehicle. Deceased was driving. It was in the late afternoon, about dusk. That was apparently the last time that the deceased was seen alive by anyone other than the accused.

On the following morning the burnt-out wreck of the deceased's motor car B was found standing, just off the roadway, on the road between Dagaza and Ngoba, near a location known as Hoffendal. Lying on the front seat of the car was a charred corpse. It is not disputed that this was the body of the deceased. The post-mortem report revealed multiple thermal fractures, ie fractures caused to underlying bones by the contraction of muscles, when subjected to intense heat. The cause of death could not be C determined, but there were two indications leading to the inference that the deceased was dead by the time the fire commenced. These were: (i) the absence of carbon particles in the trachea and bronchi, which showed that smoke had not been inhaled, and (ii) the absence of carbon monoxide D in a sample of blood taken from the body for analysis purposes, also indicating that the deceased had not inhaled gasses produced by the combustion. Because of the charred condition of the body it was not possible to detect whether there were any external injuries. Analysis of a further blood sample showed that at the time of his death the deceased's blood contained 0,34 grams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. According to the medical evidence, this indicated a high degree E of intoxication. As the district surgeon put it, the deceased was 'very drunk' at the time of his death.

In a fairly circumscribed area on the roadway, some 20 to 25 metres from the burnt-out car, were found, inter alia, some splashes of blood, a 'Lion' brand matchbox, a match and a cigarette end. And close by, just off the roadway, was found the broken off portion of a cane stick.

F Furthermore there was evidence that on the same Monday evening accused No 2 had visited a house in the Hoffendal location and asked for some matches. He was given a few matches in a 'Lion' brand box. He then left. Furthermore, accused No 2 was seen in possession of a watch (exh 4) on G the Wednesday evening of the same week. This occurred at the kraal of one Lesiah Khumalo, to whom accused No 2 offered the watch as a present. The watch was identified as having belonged to the deceased and there was evidence that he was wearing it when he left home on the Monday morning.

The statement made by accused No 2 was not evidence against appellant H and I shall, therefore, not refer to it. Appellant's statement, on the other hand, is of vital importance and I quote it in full:

'Dit was op 'n Maandag gewees. Ons, ek en Magwaza Hlongwane (ie accused No 2), het Kaptein Tshanibizwe Hlongwane (ie accused No 3), Majuba Vilakasie, Ndukuzake Hlongwane en oorledene by Majuba se kraal aangetref. Hulle het gesit en drink.

Ek en Magwaza Hlongwane het ook gedrink - whisky. Kaptein Hlongwane het toe opgestaan en in sy motorvoertuig geklim en vir my en Magwaza Hlongwane gesê om saam met hom na sy kraal te ry. Ons het agter in die voertuig gesit en die Kaptein het agter die stuurwiel gesit. Hy het sy voertuig se enjin

Corbett JA

probeer aansit maar dit wou nie vat nie. Hy het toe vir die oorledene gesê om sy kar reg te maak. Ek ken oorledene se naam nie. Hy, oorledene, het probeer maar het nie geslaag nie.

A Die oorledene het toe sy eie voertuig gaan haal om die Kaptein s'n te versterk. Hy het ook daarin nie geslaag nie. Die Kaptein het toe gesê, en hy het na die oorledene verwys, vat my met jou eie kar na my kraal toe. Die oorledene het toe in sy eie kar geklim. Hy het sy kar se enjin aangeskakel maar dit wou nie vat nie. Die Kaptein het toe aan die oorledene gesê: 'As jou kar se enjin nie vat nie sal ons almal hier moet B slaap in hierdie kar', en hy het na die oorledene se motor verwys. Die oorledene het toe sy motor reggemaak en enjin het gewerk. Ek, Magwaza Hlongwane, die Kaptein en die oorledene het toe in oorledene se motor geklim en in die rigting van die Kaptein se plek gery. Voor ons daar gekom het, het die oorledene weer probleme met sy motor se enjin gehad. Ek en oorledene het toe uitgeklim en probeer om motor se enjin reg te maak. Terwyl ek en oorledene nog besig was het ek toe die Kaptein C en Magwaza Hlongwane vanuit die motor sien klim. Die Kaptein het 'n entjie van die motor gaan staan en wag. Dit was donker gewees, omstreeks 20h00. Ek het toe onmiddellik oorledene sien opspring en ek het toe oorledene hoor sê: 'Ei'. Ek het toe weer Magwaza Hlongwane die oorledene sien steek met 'n voorwerp. Dit was donker en ek kon nie sien waarmee nie. Ek het toe groot geskrik. As gevolg van die skok het ek toe met my eie 'cane' stok vir die persoon geslaan. Ek was op daardie stadium nie D bewus dat daardie persoon die oorledene is nie. Ek het hom twee keer geslaan.

Dit het toe vir my gelyk dat dit die oorledene was en ek het toe 'n entjie van hom af gaan staan. Oorledene het toe probeer weghardloop en hy het nou en dan geval en dan weer opgestaan. Ek het toe vir Magwaza Hlongwane by my sien verbyloop. Toe hy by die oorledene kom het hy iets aan hom gedoen. Ek het nie gesien of hy die oorledene gesteek het nie of E geslaan het nie. Die oorledene het toe op die grond neergeval. Die Kaptein het so 12 meter daarvandaan gesit. Magwaza Hlongwane het my toe geroep en toe ek by hom kom het hy my versoek om hom te help die oorledene in die motor in te sit. Ek het hom gehelp. Oorledene het nie meer geleef nie. Ek het groot geskrik en het toe besluit om dit aan Kaptein Hlongwane te rapporteer. Terwyl ek nog besig was om dit aan hom te rapporteer het ek gesien dat Magwaza Hlongwane besig was om die motor F aan die brand te steek. Ek het vlamme gesien en teruggekeer na die motorkar. Toe ek by die kar kom sien ek die kap staan oop. Dit het vir my gelyk die vuur rondom die vergasser brand. Ek het vuur probeer blus maar nie geslaag nie. Magwaza en die Kaptein het toe geloop en oorledene in die kar gelos.

Ek het gesien die oorledene was dood toe ons hom in kar gesit het want hy was stil en het nie beweeg nie.

G Dit is al.'

The admissibility of this statement was not questioned. I might just add that in evidence accused Nos 2 and 3 denied all complicity in the murder. They both admitted having been at Vilakazi's kraal on the Monday H afternoon and having drunk liquor there in the company of Vilakazi, accused No 1 and the deceased. They also described the problems encountered in getting accused No 3's motor car to start when accused No 3 wished to leave to go home, the attempts to start it by using the deceased's vehicle and the decision to leave in the latter vehicle, with the deceased at the wheel. At a certain point the deceased's vehicle broke down. They, together with appellant, alighted and, after a while, went on, leaving the deceased in the process of attempting to repair the vehicle. He was then alive and in good health. They carried on walking until they arrived at the 'chief's place' (home of accused No 3), where they spent the night. Accused No 2 saw the

Corbett JA

burnt-out motor car the next day. He was afraid to go close to it because of the dead person inside. He found the wristwatch (exh 4) alongside a footpath about 40 paces from the burnt-out motor car. He later gave it to Lesiah.

A On the circumstantial evidence the trial Court came to the following conclusion:

'In our view, the conclusion...