Two men accused of murdering an elderly Cape Town couple in their home appeared in the Western Cape High Court on Monday, 19 September. The two accused both pleaded not guilty to murdering the couple.
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Lwazi Ntsibantsiba and his co-accused Gcinile Ngcobela are charged with the murders of Rugeya and Riedwaan Addinall on 5 January 2019.
The couple who lived in Ottery, Cape Town was both 82 years old at the time and was allegedly strangled with a ligature in their home, and rat poison was found in Rugeya’s mouth.
According to News24, Ngcobela was the couple’s long-time gardener and helped with other tasks around the house. On the day of the murder, the couple allegedly called him to help them with some jobs around the house.
Ntsibantsiba, was 18 at the time of the murders. Both men are now out on bail.
However, Ngcobela arrived late for the murder trial due to traffic and got a thorough dressing down from Judge Bryan Hack who warned him that his bail would be revoked if it happened again.
Furthermore, Ntsibantsiba told the court on Monday, that he had just finished Grade 11 at a Cape Town school and was working at a construction site mixing concrete for R120 a day during the 2018 December holidays.
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Ntsibantsiba said he moved to Delft in Cape Town from Elliotdale for school and lived with his uncle, who used to work for the MyCiTi bus service but became disabled. Due to his uncle’s condition, his responsibility was to cook, clean and do his uncle’s laundry.
He also told the court that Ngcobela was a friend of his uncle’s and would visit regularly, however, they did not have a close relationship, reports News24.
In December 2018, Ntsibantsiba said that he bumped into Ngcobela, and after a casual talk, Ngcobela offered him a job for R200 a day.
According to Ngcobela, he had a backlog of jobs that needed to be completed by Christmas Day, and he could do with the extra help.
After two weeks of working for Ngcobela, according to Ntsibantsiba, he was paid short and by the third week, he received no money. Ntsibantsiba tried reaching out to Ngcobela, but he was not taking any of his calls and was not at home.
Eventually, he just became despondent about the money he owed him. Then suddenly, he heard from him on the day of the murders. The duo met up at the Addinalls home on the day of the murders.
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Ntsibantsiba told the court: “I was shocked,” when he walked into the kitchen, where he saw the couple dead.
However, Ngcobela’s lawyer, Bashir Sibda, argued at length that that could not have been the case because there were groceries underneath the upturned table and a chair, not on top of it.
Ngcobela said he left Ntsibantsiba to go and do the other job, and when he returned, the couple was dead.
The trial continues on Tuesday, 20 September, with expectations to hear details of how the couple were found when the two men returned from the local Spar with some shopping the elderly couple allegedly needed.
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Picture: Western Cape High Court/Facebook