The man accused of robbing and stabbing a police officer to death has pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming he only robbed the cop as he lay dying.
Adrian Hendricks, 22, is on trial at the Western Cape High Court, for the murder of Warrant Officer Petrus Burger Holtz on July 29, 2015.
The 50-year-old had stopped along the N2 to change a flat tyre after rocks placed on the road damaged it.
Two other charges relate to attacks on two other motorists on the same road just weeks before Holtz’s murder.
PLEADED NOT GUILTY: Adrian Hendricks, 22 (right)
Hendricks pleaded not guilty to all charges but, through his lawyer Advocate Sheriff Mohammed, admitted to robbing Holtz. He also admitted the blood found on his clothes on the day of his arrest was Holtz’s, but gave no explanation how it got there.
“He saw a person who looked injured lying next to a car, he approached and saw two cellphones on the ground, he took them as well as a navigating GPS,” said Advocate Mohammed.
“The accused panicked when he saw the victim suffering. He left with the items to sell them for drugs.”
Advocate Marésa Englebrecht called the state’s first witness, Jacques Loot, who testified about being robbed and stabbed by the accused weeks earlier.
Loot said after stopping to change his tyre, the accused came at him with a knife and robbed him of his cellphone before stabbing him three times and fracturing the bone on his shoulder during the scuffle.