WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-08-31 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
In a courtroom crammed with prison guards, several of them armed with shotguns, a witness on Thursday described how former gang boss Rashied Staggie called for his brother’s death to be avenged.
Staggie is on trial for the 1996 murder of taxi driver Mogamat Ryklief, which the State claims he ordered after his brother Rashaad was torched in a Woodstock street by anti-drug Pagad vigilantes.
One of the men who carried out the shooting, former Hard Livings “senior” and police informer Donovan Richards, was the first person to be called to testify when the case began in the Cape High Court on Thursday morning.
The dreadlocked Richards, who once served in the apartheid-era defence force, appeared to be wearing a bullet-proof jacket under his loose top.
| ‘I am not going to put a gun in anyone’s hand’ |
A prison warder who himself wore a bullet-proof jacket stood at Richards’ side throughout his testimony, facing the public gallery and resting a hand on his pistol.
Richards has already been convicted and sentenced to 15 years’ jail for his part in the killing.
He told the court that gang members identified Ryklief’s father, also named Mogamat, from a video tape of Rashaad’s death.
The next day Staggie called gang members together at the “Hok”, a shebeen-cum disco in Manenberg, and said the person who had been identified “must go down”.
Richards said there were a number of guns on a table.
Staggie never directly ordered the killing, but did talk about “those who have strong legs”, and added “I am not going to put a gun in anyone’s hand, but this thing must be done”.
Staggie promised that there would be money and “a time away” for those who carried out the deed.
Asked whether Staggie had promised a vacation in Hawaii, as another member of the gang has claimed, Richards said: “I can’t remember that, but Hawaii sounds a bit excessive.”
He armed himself with a Colt 45 and a Tokarev pistol, and with four other people followed Ryklief senior by car to the Heideveld taxi rank, but decided not to carry out the killing there because there were too many people and a police van around.
When they drove further, one of his companions, Eugene “Kojak” Mashonga, pointed out Mogamat, who was unloading passengers from his taxi.
The other four shot and wounded Mogamat, and Richards, who had been standing on the other side of the road to provide “cover” in case anything went wrong, walked over and shot Mogamat four times with the Colt.
Under cross-examination by Staggie’s advocate Koos Louw, Richards admitted that in a 1999 statement to police, he said he had carried only the Tokarev on the day, and that he did not use it.
Questioned by Louw and judge Nathan Erasmus, he initially said this was due to “forgetfulness”, then said it was deliberate, then said it could be either.
He also admitted his involvement in a killing known as the Vetkoek Paleis murder, where he and others went to shoot “a laaitie” whose name he did not remember, and an innocent bystander was also killed.
Though he made a confession and was charged, the case was withdrawn. – Sapa
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>