Cape Town - A man who claimed he witnessed the shooting of the British doctor who was killed during a taxi strike last year has been charged with perjury.
Sithembele April appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court yesterday.
He faces four counts of defeating the ends of justice. The details of the charges were not shared.
The 40-year-old Essex surgeon, Kar Hao Teoh, was travelling on the N2 on August 10, but decided to take another route due to the the road being blocked by protesting taxi drivers.
He took a wrong turn and drove to a Nyanga informal settlement, where he was shot dead.
April said he was in the shooter's car at the time and that the killer was a prominent Santaco taxi association figure. He claimed he had been hired to assassinate another taxi boss but that didn't materialise; instead, the doctor was shot and killed.
He said he had come forward as a witness after the shooting a year ago. But last month he was slapped with a summons to appear before the court.
“I was hired to shoot someone in Santaco by a taxi boss during the taxi strike. I arrived in Cape Town and then drove with the taxi boss, who then shot someone whom he thought was an e-hailing driver. But it turned out it was the British doctor. I told the police this but nothing has happened with the case and I was charged for perjury.”
April said he had proof that there was communication from the taxi boss.
“He communicated with a middle man who has since been killed and told him that a wrong person was shot and it was not an e-hailing person but a British tourist, I'm not lying about this. I'm not scared to say this.
“When I told the police this, I was offered a bribe. It was then quiet for a while and then new detectives came and told me I had to appear in court – at the time I didn't know why and only heard here in court that I would be charged for perjury.”
No one has been arrested for the tourist's murder.
As the case was called up, the accused told the court that he didn't understand English but an interpreter was not available.
When the magistrate read him his rights and asked him to appoint an attorney, he opted for a Legal Aid lawyer.
After his appearance, he was taken to Cape Town Central police station, where he was formally charged with defeating the ends of justice.
The case was postponed to September 17 for further investigation and to obtain the services of an interpreter.