Cape Town - The four Uitsig men accused of operating as part of a gang appeared in the Western Cape High Court where the alleged leader testified in his defence.
Vincent Davids, pointed out in court as the man who shot and killed Glenda Ruiters, 56, while she was at home, told the court on Thursday the witness’s version “doesn’t exist”.
Davids appeared with family members Dawnay Davids, Mahlubandile Jacobs and Moegamat Swarts who said he too had no knowledge of the events that led to the allegations against him.
Davids testified that he was in Gugulethu when the incident occurred. When Swarts testified, he said he didn’t know his co-accused personally but that Vincent had a reputation among community members for belonging to the “G-Unit” gang.
The State has said evidence given by the police indicates that when the leader of the “G-Unit” gang was killed in 2018, the gang split up and the “Ama Don’t Care” gang emerged. The gang terrorised the Uitsig community during 2018 and Davids and his co-accused were alleged to have been responsible for this onslaught.
Davids admitted he was a member of the 28s prison gang and joined the first time he went to prison in 2011 but disputed he had any association to gangs outside prison. “When I leave prison, I am a family man,” he said.
During cross-examination, Davids smiled when the judge told the prosecutor it had not been established, for the duration of the trial, that Ruiters had agreed to be a witness to the killing of 4-year-old Likeshia Joubert and her grandfather, Christopher Cornelius.
Judge Robert Henney warned that questions being led under speculation would be considered inadmissible when argued at the end of the trial.
“To make the assertion that it was a witness in the absence of any evidence and to put it to this accused is totally wrong. There may have been speculation but there’s no direct, or even evidence, from where one can draw the inference that she was a witness,” Judge Henney said.
It is alleged that Dawnay and Jacobs killed Likeshia Joubert and Christopher Cornelius on March 26, 2019.
Subsequent to their killing, Davids, Jacobs and Swarts allegedly killed Ruiters on April 7, 2019, who the State said was a potential witness.