The witnesses were giving evidence in a case in which Itani Mbunya is alleged to have stolen and slaughtered a cow that belonged to Gadzani Mbasopi in July 2008 at Marobela Village. One of the witnesses, 69-year-old Joseph Magara said Mbunya came to his home the day after the police had questioned him, to discuss the issue. "He came to tell me that I should go to the complainant's home and tell her that he had killed her cow, wanted forgiveness and that he would compensate her for the cow," said Magara. He further told the court that though he told Mbunya that the matter was already in the hands of the police, he agreed to assist him.
"I told him that he should have said something sooner, because the matter was now with the police. However, I went to the complainant's house and relayed what Mbunya had said. She told me that it was too late because the accused person was the one who had taken the matter to the police," said the witness. Magara also told the court that Mbunya initially told them fibs, taking them on a wild goose chase, before he finally admitted that he had killed the beast. "We went to his kraal with the police and found remains of a dead cow but he said that it was the remains of the cow that he had sold to St Phillips Church. When we got to the church, we were told that the cow that they bought from Mbunya was slaughtered at the church premises which meant that the remains at his kraal were from a different cow," he added. He said that the bell of the stolen cow was also at the accused's kraal. Another witness Samuel Mothetho, 51 who is Mbunya's father-in-law, said the accused confessed that he had stolen and killed the cow after misleading the police, elders and the complainant.
