The detective in the Khayelitsha barbershop massacre has revealed he has information that the two accused in the case had allegedly committed another double murder on the same day.
On Tuesday, Athule Mtsha and Sithisa Masiko appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court for the 8 June barbershop shooting on the busy Iqwara Street in Site C.
According to police, a 30-year-old man and three children - aged five, 11 and 12 - were killed.
The investigation officer Constable Sibusiso Manqindi told the court via an affidavit: “I have information on the accused before court, [that they] were involved in a murder case with charges relating to a double murder.
“I will be able to confirm this through ballistic evidence. The matter is currently under investigation.”
Mtsha was linked to the barbershop murders by witnesses and the white Toyota Quantum van that he drove.
Via an affidavit prepared by Mstha’s attorney Phindile Vephile, he admitted he had been driving around in the van on 8 June, along with two friends who ended up dead later that same day. But said he was innocent of both shootings.
“The incident [barbershop shooting] is said to have happened at 2.30pm, at that time I was not near Site C.
“According to the car tracking system at 2.36pm, I was in Site B, when I dropped my friends off.
“Thereafter I went to Kraaifontein and made my way back to Site C after 6pm.”
Mtsha claimed he had parked his van at home before going to a birthday party at a tavern in Khayelitsha.
Mtsha claimed that he didn’t know his co-accused, and that they only met later that night at the tavern.
He said while at the party, he received a call from his mother informing him the police were looking for him and he, Masiko and four others left in a bakkie.
Police arrested all six a short while later, but Mtsha said he was actually on his way to meet with the detectives at that time.
Next Wednesday, Mtsha is expected to present evidence in the form of a car tracking report to prove his alibi.
Masiko also stated that at the time of the barbershop shooting he was buying his girlfriend ice cream in Brackenfell.
Outside court, his lawyer Amilca Ralawe said: “My client doesn’t have any pending cases, and convictions.
“This is the first time he was arrested but the seriousness of the offence propelled this application to Schedule 6 bail application.
“We have attached evidence showing that at the time of the commission of this crime, he was in Brackenfell.
“We have attached the proof of payment showing that he went to purchase an ice cream for his girlfriend and chats between the two of them.
“The accused are linked because they were in the same motor vehicle when they came back from the tavern, they were in the wrong place and wrong time, they don’t even know each other and aren’t friends.”