The accused in the barbershop massacre in which three children died have given the court affidavits they say would prove they were not at the scene of the crime.
Athule Mtsha and Sithisa Masiko were arrested on 8 June, just hours after the children and a man were gunned down in Iqwarha Street in Site C, Khayelitsha.
Cops tracked down the accused by the white Toyota Quantum Mtsha drove on the day of the murder.
On Wednesday at the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court, Advocate Phindile Vephile, Mtsha’s lawyer, said Anathi Khoboka, who was arrested with the accused for theft of a motor vehicle, corroborated his client’s claim of last week, that they were driving around the entire day on Saturday, 8 June.
Khoboka’s affidavit states that he asked Mtsha to skut with him to Kraaifontein, as he wanted to celebrate his birthday.
“We first dropped my cousin and friend who were later killed that day and then went to Makhaya to get money from another cousin.
“The entire day Athule was driving the car and we drank all day long even when we were in Kraaifontein.”
He said they went to Stellenbosch, and fetched a silver grey bakkie, which was driven by Mtsha’s friend.
He claimed Mtsha dropped the Quantum van off at his Site C home before they went to Hawaii tavern just before 8pm in the bakkie. They later decided to go to Groover Park.
“Athule received a call from his mother telling him that the police were looking for him. We drove to Site C and when the driver saw the police he drove fast and we knocked into a yard, the police arrested all of us except for the driver who fled,” Khoboka stated.
“At the time I already knew about the double murder in Site B and I told them (police) that Ayanda Siswana and I were cousins, I could never have killed him. It seemed that they accepted our information. I was shocked that Athule was charged. We were not in Site C but in Site B.”
Masiko’s girlfriend told the court that he was with her from 1:30pm until around 5pm.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said: “State Advocate Darren Rudolph requested a postponement for the State to respond to the alibi affidavits, for the investigating officer to analyse the cellphone data that was provided by the defence for Mtsha and to also compare the clothing items Masiko claims to have worn on the day of the event with the clothes worn by an individual in a video footage at a shopping mall.”
The matter was postponed to 18 July.