Cape Town - State prosecutor Lenro Badenhorst highlighted the way residents run towards gang shoot-outs without regard for their own safety.
Badenhorst was questioning a witness called by the defence in the murder trial of Adrian Carelse and Raydin Lekuta.
The two have been charged with 18 counts of murder, attempted murder, aiding and abetting criminal gang activity, promoting criminal gang activity, possession of unlicensed firearms and unlawful possession of ammunition.
Shaneez van der Westhuizen, from Hanover Park, was called to the witness stand where she told the court that she had abandoned the safety of her home after she heard shots being fired in the area.
She said on the night of October 5, 2018, she was putting her children to bed when she heard shots being fired.
She said that she left her husband and child behind and went to the gate at her front yard as the shots were still being fired. She was alone at the time, and there were no other people outside.
As she stood at her gate on Athburg Walk, Lekuta came from Hanover Park Avenue where they had a brief conversation.
She said after she spotted him, she heard two more shots being fired. Lekuta asked her where the shots had come from to which she responded “the backstreets”. He then left in front of his own gate and disappeared around a corner.
Van der Westhuizen grew up in Hanover Park but was unable to divulge any information about gangsterism or who could be identified as gang members in the area. She was also unable to say whether or not Lekuta or Carelse were involved in gangsterism.
She knew Lekuta as a neighbour who lived in the same street, while she was familiar with Carelse in passing.
Badenhorst showed her pictures of tattoos across Carelse’s body which, according to the State, are indicators of belonging to a gang, of which the witness had no knowledge.
He showed her a picture of an “American” flag behind his head, another on his forehead with the signs “YA” and one his arms inscribed with the number “27”.
After being questioned by defence counsel, advocate Saleem Halday, she said it was difficult to testify because “in Hanover Park, they shoot women without thinking twice”.
The State has alleged that both accused were involved in a pattern of gang activity between August 22 and October 7, 2018, where they carried out a spate of attacks, Carelse being implicated in most of these attacks.