Suspected rapist and murderer called magistrate to testify in his defense, she obliged

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Johannesburg - For a few minutes magistrate Maggie van der Merwe traded her seat on the bench and legal robes and sat in the witness stand at the Joburg South High Court. Van der Merwe, a magistrate at the Lenasia Magistrate’s Court, was called to testify by murder and rape accused Thabo Happy Mosia in his defence. The alleged cash-in-transit kingpin asked that Van der Merwe give testimony that he was assaulted by the police while in custody. Van der Merwe told the court she remembered Mosia from when he appeared in her courtroom in March 2017. Mosia, who is accused of the kidnapping, rape and murder of former SBV employee Linda Matati, claims he was assaulted by police officers, a claim they dispute in court. Mosia appeared in Van der Merwe’s court until his matter was transferred to the high court.

The magistrate said on March 13, 2017 when Mosia appeared before her, she made a log of his injuries.

“I recorded injuries that I could observe myself from the bench or those that were seen by my long-standing interpreter,” Van der Merwe said.

She said when an accused makes a claim of being assaulted and the wounds are not visible from the bench, her interpreter of 14 years usually examines and calls out the injuries for her to log in her records.

Some of the injuries that she and the interpreter noted on the day include swollen wrists, swollen lower left leg, bruising to the knee and the right eye being reddish in colour. Van der Merwe said she is always meticulous in noting down suspects’ injuries because she knew she might be called to testify about them when the matter was transferred to a higher court.

“I can’t say for certain whether his injuries were visible or not. It was quite a while ago. They might have been brought to my attention by either him or his defence,” she said.

Asked about the wrist injuries, Van der Merwe said: “Bruising on the wrists might be caused by handcuffs. It is quite common. I also noted his eyes were reddish meaning they were not badly swollen.”

Mosia is accused of kidnapping Matati from a party in Lawley in 2016. He then allegedly raped and murdered her before dumping her body.

Matati’s decomposed body was found over a year later in Bronkhorstspruit, Mpumalanga. Mosia has been in custody since 2017.

During the trial Mosia was asked what his job as and he said: “I steal cars and sell them over the border.”

Asked if he was proud of his criminality, he said: “I fend for my family. It hurts me sometimes but I have to survive,” Mosia said admitting he always carried an unlicensed firearm but denied he was a dangerous criminal.

Asked if he was a cash-in-transit kingpin, Mosia said: “I can’t say I’m a kingpin. Those are allegations against me.”

In 2011, Mosia was arrested in Eldorado Park in connection with four cash-in-transit heists between 2005 and 2006 and a string of other crimes.

The case continues.