An elderly Komga woman told the court of the excruciating ordeal she went through when three panga-wielding robbers knocked down her door on a farm near Gonubie, stabbed her numerous times and chopped off her right hand thumb and little finger.
Nongetheni Mtshini , 62, this week recounted to the East London Magistrate’s Court how the three men, who are well known to her and lived on the same farm at the time, nearly killed her when they hacked at her head and body.
Her 23-year-old daughter, Vuyelwa Stofile, was also stabbed in the attack and was hospitalised for two weeks.
Mtshini was testifying this week in the trial of 29-year-old Zola “Twenty” Bonani, who posed a lonely figure in the court dock in the absence of his two accomplices, who remain at large.
The incident took place on October 3 2009, but Bonani was arrested only this year.
Mtshini told regional magistrate Dan Ngoqo that she was sleeping on the day in question when the three men knocked at her door.
When there was no response, they knocked down her shack door using their pangas.
She said when the three eventually gained entry they asked for R10. When she told them she did not have it, they started to assault her while her daughter lay sleeping.
“Xolani later took out a knife and grabbed my right hand before he chopped my thumb off and placed it in his pocket saying he was going to use it to make muti.
“Twenty also pulled out his bush knife and chopped off my little finger.
“It was so painful and traumatic. He hacked me with a panga and injured me in my stomach, head and back.
When Twenty repeatedly hacked my head, that wound caused me to lose consciousness and I fell just outside my shack.“ They later robbed me of an amount of R500 which was next to my bed,” related an emotional Mtshini.
So emotional was Mtshini’s testimony in court that Ngoqo was visibly affected. He shook his head often and at one point abruptly adjourned proceedings, quickly stepping to his chambers for 10 minutes.
She was working at a tomato factory near Kwelera at the time of the attack and lost her job without her thumb.
Vuyelwa told the court she woke up when she heard her mother’s screams. She said Thembani, one of the other men, stabbed her in the back.
“I fell on my bed and pretended I had died, but when I saw them hacking my mother’s head, I shouted and told them that even if they kill her, we know who they are.
“They let go of her and tried to chase me, but I managed to run to a shop where they called the police and an ambulance which took me to hospital,” Vuyelwa said.
Bonani pleaded not guilty to the counts of attempted murder and robbery. His lawyer, Mkhuseli Nosilela, said they would argue that he did not partake in Mtshini’s attack, his fugitive accomplices did.
Nosilela said his client “could not have hurt [Mtshini] as he had a romantic relationship with her daughter” – a claim denied by Vuyelwa.
The trial continues next week. —asandan@dispatch.co.za..