Sowetan Online
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Jewell Crossberg told the court that he paid for the burial of the man he shot - but he never paid a cent.
This was claimed yesterday in the Polokwane high court, where Crossberg is on trial for the murder of a former employee, Jealous Dube, and the attempted murder of four others.
The farmer shot Dube dead after, he claims, mistaking him for a baboon.
Elias Ngulube, a former employee of Crossberg, who was with Dube when the shooting occurred, told Judge Ronnie Boshielo that Crossberg was not interested in contributing to the burial expenses of Dube.
This was after Crossberg's lawyer, Jaap Cilliers, told the court that his client had paid for the burial of the deceased from his own pocket.
"At no stage did Crossberg pay a cent towards Dube's burial," said Ngulube.
He said he did not know who was responsible for burying Dube "but definitely [it was] not Crossberg".
Ngulube is the second state witness to testify against his former employer.
He was preceded in the witness box by Happius Mpofu, who is also a Zimbabwean.
Both men, together with two other former Zimbabwean employees of the farmer, have been placed in the police's witness protection programme. They will testify later in the week.
Crossberg is accused of shooting at a group of employees on his farm in Musina on June 21 2004. He claimed he was shooting at a troop of baboons. But one of the bullets struck Dube, who died on the spot.
Yesterday's proceedings were conducted before a packed courtroom for the first time since the trial started on Monday.
Boshielo ruled that the proceedings be conducted in English to accommodate the four witnesses, who are all from Zimbabwe and whose home language is Shona.
Cilliers had asked that the proceedings be conducted in Afrikaans.
The trial continues.