WeeklySA_AdminDOCK: High court revisits the grisly death of black farmworker Dumisani Phakath who was assaulted, bound on his wrists and ankles allegedly by three white men after begging for water…
By Monk Nkomo
A farm worker had his ankles and wrist allegedly bound with a rope, his head repeatedly bashed, brutally assaulted, kicked and apparently strangled by three white men when he simply went to fetch water from a chicken farm in Mamogalieskraal, Brits, in North West two years ago.
The chilling account of the severe assault and murder of Dumisani Phakathi, was relived during argument by both the State and defence counsels of the three accused in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria this week.
The three accused who, despite pointing fingers at each other for the heinous crime, but have pleaded not guilty before Judge Portia Phahlane, are Jaco Kemp ( 37), Louis Coetzee (30) both of Mamogalieskraal, Brits and Gert van der Westhuizen (32) of 902 Jasper Street, Centurion.
The State alleges that on or about September 16 to 17 2023, at or near a chicken farm in Mamogalieskraal in the district of Brits, the accused unlawfully and intentionally killed Phakathi who had gone to the farm carrying a plastic container to fetch water. The cause of death was ‘’ blunt force head injury’’.
Evidence already before court revealed that the three accused allegedly confronted Phakathi when they saw him at one of the gates on the farm. He was asked what he wanted and after explaining that he only came to fetch water, all hell allegedly broke loose.
The farm worker was allegedly brutally assaulted, dragged to a storeroom where the beating continued. He was also subjected to a severe kick that made him look like a ‘’ headless chicken,’’ the court heard. His head was allegedly repeatedly bashed, assaulted with clenched fists, kicked and locked in a storeroom where he was further assaulted until he lost consciousness and later died due to the relentless blows to the head and face.
Phakathi’s gruesome and lonely death was unfolded in court by the three suspects who allegedly tried to conceal his brutal death until their intensions came to an abrupt end, thanks to a routine stop and search operation by members of the South African Police Services who stopped a Nissan NP 200 bakkie on the Brits – Thabazimbi road at around 2am on September 17 2023.
Loaded on the back of the bakkie allegedly driven by one of the two murder suspects were black garbage bags. A closer look by the police revealed Phakathi’s bloodied legs protruding from one of the bags. His head was also covered in one of the plastic bags. Phakathi had been murdered. Both the driver of the bakkie and his passenger were then arrested. After further investigations, another suspect was apprehended.
The State alleges that Phakathi came to fetch water at the farm outside Brits on September 16, 2023. When he arrived at the gate, he was attacked by the three accused who were having a braai. According to evidence already presented in court, Phakathi posed no threat to the three accused.
The court heard Kemp during his testimony accusing Van der Westhuizen of kicking Phakathi and assaulting him with clenched fists. He distanced himself from the murder. However, he (Kemp) admitted that he was the person who bound Phakathi’s wrists and legs and loaded his body on the bakkie after his death
Another accused, Coetzee, also distanced himself from the gory murder and said he could not help Phakathi or call for assistance because he was afraid of his two co-accused.
The post-mortem results submitted in court revealed that Phakathi may have been strangled. The possibility of suffocation could also not be ruled out. There was a black and white rope, 10mm in width , which had bound his wrists and ankles together from behind the body. There were associated ligature marks around the wrists and ankles. There was also a blue torn T-shirt around his neck which was tied in front of the neck with a fixed knot.
There were ligature marks, ranging from 20 – 40mm around the neck. There were also fresh lacerations on the head and left eyebrow, a fresh bruise on the left cheek and left side of the lower jaw.
Presenting his argument, Adv. Lawrence More, for the State, submitted that the assault on Phakathi which led to his death, had not been disputed by the accused. Both Kemp and Van der Westhuizen had also taken the victim to the storeroom on the farm where the assault continued.
Coetzee claimed that he did not take part in the assault but More argued that he had aligned himself with the alleged crime because he observed the brutal assault and did not help the victim or call the police.
‘’ Instead he even opted to assist in trying to dispose of the body’’, More submitted.
All three accused, he added, acted under the doctrine of common purpose – a legal principle used to hold individuals liable for crimes committed by others, particularly within a group.
Adv. Seja Rakobela, who represented Van der Westhuizen, submitted that there was no dispute that the assault on Phakathi took place. All the accused, however, denied taking part in the alleged crime. They were pointing fingers at each other with both Kemp and Coetzee blaming Van der Westhuizen and alleging they had received instructions from him.
Kemp had earlier testified that he did not report Van der Westhuizen to the police because he feared him. Coetzee ‘’portrayed himself as an angel but he took part by even loading Phakathi’s body onto the bakkie’’, Rakobela said. He (Coetzee ) took part in trying to conceal the body. He was there when the assault started.
Kemp, he added, was an unreliable witness. Coetzee was present throughout the assault on Phakathi and he was actually braaing meat while Phakathi’s body lay nearby.
Adv. Adrian Thompson, who appeared for Coetzee, argued that his client did not partake in the assault on Phakathi and therefore could not be convicted for his murder. He could at least be found guilty for allegedly trying to conceal Phakathi’s body or allegedly being an accessory after the fact.
Adv. Wieman, for Kemp, did not submit any argument and instead said they relied on the evidence already provided by his client during his evidence-in-chief.
While the three men continued to point fingers at each other, all of them evading responsibility for the grim murder, the exhibits of gruesome pictures showing Phakathi’s body in a cold, bloodied state, were the only constant reminder before the court to the events of that fateful day. They show his contorted face, conjuring the insufferable pain he experienced before succumbing to his injuries, some too macabre to be republished. Before Phakathi drew his last breath, he lay helpless on the ground, his wrists and ankles bound with a rope and was probably strangled.
What is not in dispute in court is that on that fateful day, September 16 2023, Phakathi innocently walked to the chicken farm near Mamogalieskraal carrying a container to fetch water. Little did he know that his quest for this commodity would lead him to a wrong place, at a wrong time and with wrong people, who, instead of helping him with this necessity for survival, he was brutally murdered. The trio is expected to know their fate in October this year when Judge Phahlane delivers her verdic
