Miguel Louw accused will not testify in his defence

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Durban - The Durban High Court will not hear from “the horse’s mouth” what happened the day Miguel Louw disappeared. This comes after the man accused of his murder, Mohamed Vahed Ebrahim, decided not to testify in his own defence yesterday. Advocate Jay Naidoo on Monday closed the defence’s case without calling any witnesses or Ebrahim himself to testify in his defence. Ebrahim’s only version of events is that he bought Miguel a meal at the Sydenham KFC and then boarded a taxi, leaving the boy to walk home alone. Earlier, Judge Jacqueline Hendriques refused Naidoo’s application to have the charges against Ebrahim scrapped. She would state the reasons for her decision when delivering judgment.

Naidoo then said he was closing the defence’s case, which meant that Ebrahim could not call any witnesses or take the witness stand.

CCTV footage presented by the State in the trial suggests that Miguel, whose body was found close to Ebrahim’s home in Phoenix weeks later, was last seen with Ebrahim at the KFC in Sydenham on July 17.

The state alleged that Ebrahim had picked up Miguel from school and bought him food at the KFC. The two then boarded a taxi to Phoenix.

In his application to have the case against Ebrahim dismissed, Naidoo had previously argued that the evidence presented by the State was weak and insufficient.

He said the State relied on circumstantial evidence which did not prove the crimes of murder and kidnapping.

Naidoo had asked the court to consider that Miguel’s uncle, Mike Louw, was another person who should have been considered a suspect. Louw was nowhere to be found when Miguel went missing.

However, this was dismissed by State advocate Kelvin Singh, who insisted that the only person all the evidence pointed to was Ebrahim.

Naidoo had argued that the State could not explain why Louw, Miguel’s uncle, who was in a relationship with the boy’s mother, was not a suspect. He said anything could have happened in the 44 minutes after Miguel and Ebrahim left the KFC.

The matter was adjourned to February 20 and 21 for the state and defence to present closing arguments.

Daily News