Cape Town - An alleged gang member and his brother have taken the stand in their own defence while their mother has testified as an alibi witness, one of the brothers claimed he had blood stains on his hands after he had removed jewellery from gunshot victims who he had found inside a vehicle.
Last week, Mikyle Davids, known as “Immortal” David, the alleged leader of the Laughing Boys gang and his brother, Tyron “Korise” Davids, took the witness stand at the Pollsmoor Circuit Court.
Both Davids and his brother had undergone cross-examination.
Tyron’s time on the witness stand is expected to continue.
The brothers, together with Mikyle Abdullah, Shamieg Matheon, Moenzier January, Malieka Meyer and Moegamat Kamisch, have pleaded not guilty to 28 charges ranging from murder, attempted murder and the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and participating in gang.
Previously, Kamish brought a 174 application, known as a discharge, but it was dismissed.
The State alleges that the gang had operated from premises in Hanover Park.
According to court papers, the accused are to have committed crimes for a period until April 2019.
Their charges relate to the Prevention of Organised Crime Act in that they operated as a criminal gang in the vicinity of Hanover Park.
Eric Ntabazalila of the National Prosecuting Authority said all three relatives took the witness stand: “Mikyle “Immortal” Davids and Tyron “Kosie” Davids were cross examined after they were led by their legal representative. They also called their mother, Vivian Davids, as their witness.
“The seven members of the gang are charged with several counts of murder, attempted murder, being members and furthering the activities of the gang, several counts of illegal possession of firearms and illegal possession of ammunition.”
The duo’s mother had testified in relation to an apparent alibi for her two sons.
Tyron told the court that on the night of the shooting on April 12 2019, he had been smoking mandrax with a friend when he heard gunshots and saw a red Golf standing with emergency lights (hazard) which were displayed.
The incident relates to the triple murder of Sydney Maloy, Bradwin Duminy and Rushana Kader in Hanover Park.
Tyron claimed he approached the vehicle, where he saw three deceased persons inside and found the vehicle victim at the back.
He informed the court that he had climbed inside the vehicle and proceeded to search the woman’s body and took her jewellery and cellphone, and also carried out the same action with the driver and front seat passenger and also took their personal belongings, cellphones and jewellery.
He further claimed that he had gotten blood stains on his hands during the search and that the jewellery was also covered in blood.
And that he had rushed to his friend’s home, where he had rinsed his hands under a running tap of water.
He explained that the next morning he visited the Cape Town Parade and sold the item to a certain Bongo (foreign national) and was given R500 in cash which he shared with his mother and four-year-old child.
He claimed he had made a confession later after he had been beaten by police, and for it to end, he decided to make admissions.
The State had pointed out to Tyron that there was no blood evidence observed on the door frames and panels of the vehicle to cause a transfer and that the sleeves of his clothing were not saturated with blood while apparently searching the corpses, and that there were no trail or drip leading away from the scene if he had exited the vehicle.