The lawyer of two of the three men accused of killing Hillary Gardee wants to subpoena her father, former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee.
Murder accused Philemon Lukhele and Albert Gama's lawyer Adv Ncobizitha Mlilo told the Nelspruit magistrate's court on Wednesday, “Before we close Your Worship, we would like to state that as the defence we would like to subpoena Mr Gardee,” said Mlilo.
Though Mlilo did not specify in court on what basis they are planning to subpoena Gardee, he told Sowetan outside court, “The subpoena is not meant to be disrespectful or unjust towards the victim's family but seeks to make Mr Gardee own up to a Twitter account which suggests that the family is not happy with the investigation.
“We are also not happy with the investigation and we also believe the police have arrested the wrong people so we want to clear that out.
“We heard that the Gardee family is applying to have police replaced by the Hawks in the investigation. We are in support of that,” said Mlilo.
Judge Morris Patrick said he understands and that Mlilo must bring the application.
Earlier in the day, Mlilo denied being involved in a conspiracy to murder any witness in the case.
Mlilo called on the state to clarify if they were charging him or not.
Investigating officer Col Thamsanqa Mkhaliphi told the court on Tuesday that the accused — Sipho Mkhatshwa, Lukhele and Gama — and their lawyer had hatched a plan to kill a witness.
Addressing the court yesterday, Mlilo said: “Before I proceed, there are a few matters to be fixed. Yesterday I was called by state prosecutor Adv [Ntsika] Mpolweni.
“He said it appeared that Col Mkhaliphi, who is an investigating officer in the case, made statements on the adding of charges of conspiracy to commit murder, the utterances were made in the presence of the attorney of accused two and three [Lukhele and Gama] ... which is myself.
“It was put to one of the witnesses during the bail application of accused one [Mkhatshwa] on why is Adv Mlilo not arrested or if he will ever be arrested,” he said.
“Adv Mpolweni further suggested that the matter will arise during this bail application [for Gama and Lukhele] and in his view, I was conflicted and I should consider to withdraw appearing on this matter.
“I told him that I appreciate what he said to me and I told my clients, their family and comrades. However, in that view and matter, I would like to put it on record that I deny having been part of a conspiracy to murder any witness,” said Mlilo.
Mpolweni said the conversation with Mlilo was confidential and should not have been brought up in court.
He further questioned why Mlilo would opt to talk about his possible arrest or charge rather than continuing to represent the accused. “This is the reason I was saying this matter will arise in this court. My colleague [Mlilo] here talks about himself denying [the allegations rather] than representing the accused in court,” said Mpolweni.
Mlilo said he was threatened by members of a certain political party and was told that the organisation is willing to kill for Gardee.
The court advised Mlilo to open a case.
Gardee was killed on April 30, a day after she went missing while shopping at Nelspruit Plaza with her adopted three-year-old daughter.
The child was later dumped unharmed at KaMagugu, where they lived.
Gardee’s body was found with stab wounds, boot prints and a gunshot wound by timber plantation workers on May 3, about 60km outside Mbombela towards Sabie.
The case continues.
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