Defence says no evidence links Sotheni to Witness D’s murder

Murder accused Mathipandile Sotheni appears before the Brakpan Magistrate’s Court.

The defence in the bail application of murder accused Mathipandile Sotheni says there is no evidence to show that the accused murdered Madlanga Commission witness Marius van der Merwe.

The former South African Police Service Special Task Force member appeared in the Brakpan Magistrate’s Court, in Ekurhuleni.

He is accused of fatally shooting Van Der Merwe outside his Brakpan home weeks after testifying at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

However, the State argued that Sotheni’s links to Wiandre Pretorius – a former police reservist who allegedly shot himself at a petrol station in Brakpan in February this year – support an inference that Sotheni may have been engaged to carry out the killing.

State Prosecutor, Advocate Nqobile Maphalala says the circumstances of the case point to a coordinated effort aimed at preventing Van Der Merwe from giving further testimony against Pretorius.

“The deceased and Pretorius were working together for a security company during the period of death of Mbense. When the deceased testified to the Madlanga Commission, he implicated Pretorius and other influential persons. Therefore, the state submits that Pretorius solicited the services of the applicant when he realised that the deceased was going to testify against him in a subsequent trial.”